An Anniversary of Sorts

Ayden was born a healthy little boy, BIG, but healthy. At that time our only worry was his extra toe, he was such a good baby. Nessa was still just a toddler and needed lots of attention as always. Ayden seemed to be happy just rocking in his little seat or sitting in his swing never complaining much as long as he could hear a familiar voice.
In June of 2008 shortly after Nessa's 2nd birthday, Ayden started getting fussy and was fussy off and on all day I took him to the ER and was sent home about an hour later. An ear infection was the verdict, if only I knew then what an absence seizure looked like then. I could have told him that he had already had a few that evening, maybe they would have done more...Hindsight is 20/20 I guess. To this day, we don't know when the stroke happened or when the encephalitis started, but on the morning of June 13th, 2 days after our ER visit, our Ayden was lost in a fog.
I remember in the hospital as we were told to call all of our family, I asked God to have my son a little longer because I just wasn't ready to give him up. Perhaps it was selfish at the time for me to ask, but I am so glad we have been these years with him. He is sometimes hard to handle, frustrating, and requires us to make sacrifices. Some may wonder why we have fought so hard for him and to those that ask, all we need to ask you is, "Have you met our Bubba?"
 Anyone who knows our little boy knows he is a miracle and can make even the most frustrating moments laughable. He keeps us on our toes, and reminds us what love is everyday. Recently, he has had a spell of some rough days, a few years ago it would have worried me, but now I figure growth spurt so we waited it out a bit. Since then we have heard new phrases and words another sign of a little growth. The best one: I gave him a hug the other morning and he says "Love you Sugar!" I say it all the time to him, but hearing it from him made me smile.
Why remember this day? It is easy to get frustrated by the loss of all the things we/he should be doing by now or the things he will never do. The only way we can appreciate where we are now is to keep reminding ourselves how far he has come or what may have never happened at all.

This was not the chosen path but despite brain surgeries, transports to Cleveland, and hundreds of seizures, we still have our Bubba. Today we are not celebrating the stroke, but taking time to look back at Ayden's incredible journey and success by the grace of God.