So Thank You.

Things have been rough lately.

My husband and I got into a pretty serious car accident a few days ago. We swerved to avoid another car (which we did) and hit the ditch pretty hard. I have a seatbelt burn (that's it), our son was not in the car with us (thank GOD), and my husband had to have back surgery and is recovering well. He's expected to make a full recovery within months. Amazing.

We're lucky. We're so lucky. He will be fine. Everything will be fine.

Some things I've wanted to make sure and put in text:

1. Our family. IS. AMAZING. From our parents and grandparents, to our siblings, to our cousins, to our aunts and uncles, to our distant relatives, to our toddler (who has no clue why his daddy is in bed so much right now)... Everyone has handled things with so much grace and calmness. When things like this happen, you expect a certain level of chaos to be constantly going on around you and because of our family, we have not had to suffer that chaos. We have bonded and our ties have all become so much stronger than before. We make a really amazing team. And if I can't be assertive with the doctors sometimes (because I struggle with assertiveness, see #3), I have a lot of really strong relatives to take the reins and get it sorted out. So thank you, family. 
2. Our friends (and this also includes family because they're our best friends). What did we do to deserve you all? Really? What is it that put us in the proper time and place to be able to meet these incredible individuals and build bonds with them? We are not worthy! Watching people drop what they're doing to drive you somewhere (because you're for some reason a wee bit nervous to hop behind the driver's seat right now)... visit the hospital with kind words, reading material, thoughtful gifts, and laughs... getting text messages filled with genuine concern and offers to bring food or help in any way possible... posting updates on Dan's status on Facebook and getting tons of likes and hopeful comments... You've all made my heart burst with so much joy. Every single one of you. From the people who've visited daily to the people who've clicked "like" on Facebook. You all have brought tears of happiness to our eyes. So thank you, friends. 
3. New strength. I'm not the strongest person usually. I whine about stupid things and get anxiety in crowded places and all that good stuff... Until my husband went into the hospital. And somehow, I've pulled myself out of myself (if that makes sense) and have been able to be assertive (I've never been assertive. Once. In my life.), be strong, push Dan to where I know he can be pushed, and do every task asked of me. And I will do this forever because I love him so deeply. So thank you Dan, for giving me this strength. 
4. Adaptable (almost) two year old. My little man has been such a little man. He's been the strongest link among all of us, I swear. He's stoic, much like his dad. He's provided so many smiles and laughs to not only our family but to other patients and hospital staff. He's an angel. And he's adapted to this situation unlike I would have ever imagined. I know it's weird when people say that they're "proud of what their child has become" when their kid is only like, 1.5 years old, but I AM proud of my son. He has been a light and an anchor and a home base for all of us. So thank you, Otto. Mommy and Daddy are proud of you and we love you very much. 
5. Red wine. A couple of glasses of red wine have helped me through a couple of pretty emotional days. I'm not saying that I'm taking up drinking a few glasses of wine as a nightly hobby for the rest of my life, but sometimes, when you don't have any control over what happens in the next eight hours before you pull yourself together and head back to the hospital, a glass of wine can really calm a few nerves. So thank you, red wine. 
6. The good hospital staff. I italicized 'good' because 95% of our experience with the docs and nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, social workers, cafeteria staff, gift shop employees, custodial staff, etc. has been mind-blowingly great. And there's 5% that totally suck, but I'm not here to talk about them. So anyway. Nurses. I will from hence forth give you all of the respect in the world. Here you go. I'm giving you every ounce of respect I have to spare because you are incredible, unselfish, beautiful people. The nurses that I've had the pleasure of getting to know over the last few days have offered me Advil and ointment from their personal stashes in their purses (ointment for my seatbelt burn... eek, it was lookin' BAD for a minute there), they've given us a better idea of what's going on with Dan than most of the doctors, they've kept him as pain-free as possible, they've been shoulders to cry on and they've also provided comic relief.... Man. Like I said, here is my respect, nurses. I am giving it to you because you deserve it. And so does Dan's surgeon. What a great guy. He answers our questions, doesn't try to run away all fast like many doctors, and explains things in an optimistic way that we can understand, all without making us feel totally stupid. And I mustn't forget the lady who rings up my breakfast and has such a sweet smile and overall demeanor. So thank you, good hospital staff.
7. Good food and exercise. My husband and I eat clean most of the time, as you can probably tell from the rest of this blog. We exercise quite regularly. I am attributing his accelerated healing to the good clean things we've put into our bodies over the last couple of years and to the amount of physical activity he has taken on. I plan on talking about this in a future blog a little more, but I can't tell you how many friends, family, and hospital staff have mentioned how healthy he is and how lucky we are that he is a strong, nutrition-minded individual. This stuff is important. And so I thank you, good food and exercise. 

Okay. I have to go make some calls and send some texts now. But I needed to put this all into the universe. I needed to say thanks in text and I need to keep a reminder of this overwhelming feeling of gratefulness to so many people and things. I have been reminded, yet again, that people are so so so so good. And I can only hope that in others times of struggle, my family can provide whatever support is needed. Bad things happen, but the good thing about being in the middle of it all is that you get to see, right in front of your face, how unselfish and kind people really are. So, everyone, thank you. 

(P.S. AND I mustn't forget to thank God. Because I've been questioning him a lot lately and I've been calling on him for a lot of answers lately. Thank you, God, for burdening my pain and for helping me through this. And for making sure this car crash wasn't a billion times worse, as it could have been. Thank you, God. Thank you.)