Something You Don't Know...

I don't remember ever mentioning here in my blog that Tom had polio when he was a baby. 

His parents were missionaries in Mexico at the time and he contracted polio which settled in his left leg. He walks with a noticeable swagger(or limp) and people stare, then avert their eyes. 

They always have--it's natural, I know.

Part of me seldom thinks about the polio. While first married,  Tom and I visited a dear friend of my family's. She and I sat at her mountain cabin's kitchen table while Tom and her fiance spoke outside at the car. She asked me, "What happened to Tom's leg?" Wonderingly,I leaned over at the window to see what had happened and then caught myself and laughed. "Oh! You mean the polio he had as a child?" She smiled and said she had a grandson with a deformity, too, and that you do forget to notice it when you love someone and live with them.

Yet another part of me thinks about the polio every day. As the years have gone by, more complications have developed -- Tom has scoliosis in his spine, he's had surgery twice on discs in his neck, his hip messes up, etc. He now lives with daily pain for which he swallows more pain med's than I am comfortable with, morning, noon and night. Doctors say his is a special case and they make dire predictions. 

They're not sure what to do with him next.

Why am I sharing this? Because sometimes to hear me talk in this blog, you'd think I have a perfect life--and that's the last thing I want to convey. Instead, I want you to know that my life is dear and wonderful only because God and I are making it that way. He helps me walk through my weeks and through these rooms in a glow of gratitude, so much so, that everything appears enchanted and as good as it gets in this 2004 life.

That's partly why I share what I do in this blog. And I so want you to experience your own glow of gratitude, too, no matter what your story may be.


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