One more reason to smile.

I am no stranger to heart break. I am also no stranger to miracles. I have seen much of both in my 30+ years of living. This past week a miracle saved me and my family from what could have been a great heart break. 

The call came on a Saturday morning, Aaron and I were puttering around the house finishing some projects. I answered the phone to hear the quiet voice of my 11-year-old niece Aubeny say, "My mom is in the hospital. She was on the floor."A lump the size and weight of a boulder formed in my throat, threatening to strangle me before I could speak a word.

 All of my life I have lived in fear of my sister's untimely death. You see, we are close, closer than close, we are best friends as well as sisters and always have been. We have been through so much together and have leaned on each other. When we were teenagers she was involved in a car accident that left her with chronic pain, and I must admit that since that day I have watched the strength of her spirit grow as the strength of her body suffered. She has been in and out of the hospital for this and that through the years, but never before has she been so close to death.  My sister suffered a stroke at the young age of 34. My brother and I rushed to the hospital where she had been life-flighted to be by her side and the side of her husband and daughter. When we got there we were met by a social worker who wouldn't tell us anything but, "In a minute we will take you to the part of the hospital where you sister is." To me this could only mean one thing, that my dear sister had not made it. While I put on a brave face, inside I felt like screaming. How could such a wonderful person be taken from the world? I need my sister, my children need my sister. The world needs my sister. But at the end of the day, after the good doctors at the hospital had repaired the torn artery in her neck and removed the blood clots from her brain and we were allowed to finally visit her in the ICU, she greeted me with a smile. That's just like her. In that moment I knew that she would be okay, whatever trials she would face in recovery.

It has been just over one week since that dreadful day and I have witnessed miracles. Mindy can walk and speak almost like nothing happened. She should not be able to walk and talk, let alone remember who I am, but she does. 

Mindy, I love you. You are amazing. You are a miracle.