To Cherish

The tragedy and hope of life is that often it takes a tragedy to wake you up, or make you embrace life. Sometimes it makes you realize things you had put aside or forgotten . It often brings people to the realization that God is real.

What happened to me is I truly learned the meaning of the word CHERISH. Cherish to protect and care for (someone) lovingly. Cherish hold (something) dear. Cherish keep (a hope or ambition) in one’s mind.

I did not know it at first, but as my husband laid in the neuro ICU all the feelings, love and memories with him rushed to my mind and that is how I spent some of the time waiting for him to wake up. Guarding him and making sure his every need was met came next. Hoping and believing for his life and health was always present.

So many things happened, I lost my wedding band when he was in rehab, never to be found how it slipped out of my deep pockets we will never know. They were in my pocket because everyday I rubbed his legs and feet with lotion to protect them. I cried for a week until I put the pain aside and knowing that I still had the memory of looking for the ring, still able to hear his voice calling to me from the jewelry kiosk under the stairs in the LS AYRES store in Indianapolis “I think I found your ring” The fact it was on sale and cost less than $300 and was perfect. Realizing that I would never look at it again made me realize it’s mysterious disappearance could not remove the memories and actions that had taken place since the day it was placed on my finger. The first Christmas after he awakened and returned home. Our son took him to the mall he remembered my ring size and at that point he could not speak or remember much of anything. He got me a ring at Pandora for Christmas a band with stones and solid color on the other half. He proudly told me he only paid $800.00 (really it was $80 I saw it on the bank statement) he was close he got 2 of the numbers right. That ring means more than anything to me.

We can choose to cherish or we can choose to let these days fly by and the things that happen in them. I choose cherish because we were given a second chance to appreciate each other, how much God loves us , and the rest of our life no matter how long or short that is!

While I hate the pain that came with the stroke, I am thankful for the goodness it brought. If there was ever any advice to give anyone but especially those in a marriage. Learn the meaning of the word cherish on your own, don’t wait for tragedy to bring the full force of it’s meaning into your life.