Last month we parted with our deeply appreciated 2005 Buick (Al)Lure. It saw us through a lot this past year! A car for a short season, it got us to and from so many Toronto appointments; it witnessed "the call" and was featured in several med selfies. It also provided stable transportation around Guelph and for Drew as he drove to and from work in Mississauga. It was a blessing to have this comfortable and reliable car without payments during a precarious year; it was a further symbol of God's provision and care when Drew unexpectedly lost his job two weeks after my surgery, leaving is with a lot more to figure out. We didn't realize how much this car represented for us.
Then this Spring it gave up the ghost. We decided it was time to move into something longer term: welcome 2015 Chevy Cruze. Watching the Buick being towed away, both Drew and I were unexpectedly emotional. We realized that much of this crazy journey was tied to that car. It was the closing of a chapter, a letting go, a moving forward. A milestone.
Another milestone today: I saw my physio therapist for the first time since my transplant. She and I have been working on my thorax regularly since August 2015 because it was the centre of much wear and tear from a lifetime of coughing. Even though I haven't done our specified stretches for 8 months (only general ones from the transplant program), my back is straighter (I've even "grown" 3/4 of an inch!), my muscle tone is much better, and my range of motion is improved... without consistently focusing on these areas. All that from having healthy lungs and being able to exercise!!
Milestones like this underscore the bigger ones. It has been almost 8 months since I received my double lung transplant...So many milestones to celebrate, reminders to reflect on the faithfulness of God. One year ago I was heading into my assessment for the lung transplant program. I was nervous, not knowing what to expect; I was weighed down by the possibilities, the questions, the unknowns: Would I be accepted? How would we manage the process of living in the waiting? What would the surgery be like? Would it work? How would I recover? What would life look like after...?
I could not have foreseen being able to commit to car payments because of stability in work and life. I could not have foreseen having a naturally functional skeletal foundation, without focused physio exercises, and able to now improve beyond. I could not have foreseen the fullness of life that I have now.
So today I acknowledge and celebrate these reminders, the process and progress that is marked with milestones.
I hope you can find time this weekend to reflect on milestones that have marked your journey.
In celebration of mother's Day: Same ladies, same pose...10 years (and so many milestones) apart!!