Each March 30th brings a great sense of joy as well as a reminder to never be complacent . March 30th is Hayden's heartaversary. This year marks seven years since his Fontan( most recent open heart surgery ). It's always a special day for us . We get to reflect on how awful, dreadful, miserable and scary that day was , but also to think about how very lucky we are today. Celebrating a heartaversary is controversial in the heart community . But I don't shy away from controversy nor my belief that another year removed from surgery is absolutely worth celebrating . I can't help but celebrate all the amazing things Hayden has done since March 30,2009. Particularly since he wasn't expected to last past that night . The rest of this is all nothing short of amazing .
I've written, re-written and played with this post over and over again . Really, what I want to say is that seven years is just fucking awesome! It's crazy, fucking awesome. And deserves every curse that comes out of my terrible potty mouth.
These seven years have brought us peace, routine and a great appreciation for time ( at this time last year I wrote about time being nebulous and I do still feel that way ). We appreciate the time we share with each other, friends , family, traveling , laughing , singing, farting, chuckling , playing , dancing , learning and just experiencing every aspect of life . We are grateful for the many opportunities to serve others. Yet we are also acutely aware of how precious time is. How fickle it can be. And that it's simply not promised . With each passing year, we feel grateful and anxious at the same time . It makes us wonder what time has in store for Hayden. For us.(yet we really don't want to know ).
I can quickly time travel back to that day seven years ago . I know what I was wearing , where I was sitting ( in a ball), what I ate( nothing -I puked multiple times) , the people who annoyed me in the waiting room( rowdy, snack eating , partying in the waiting room types who didn't realize my baby was dying !), the sinking in my gut that this wasn't going well. It's all right there and I can call it up when I choose to. Mostly I choose not to. But in order to not become complacent and to appreciate the utter significance of this day, I'll conjure up those memories in order to fully celebrate the unbelievable joy of making it seven years !
Hug your loved ones seven times tonight . Kiss your dog seven times . Fuss at your kids seven times. Hang out in plank for seven minutes. Eat seven Girl Scout cookies . Whatever you feel like doing to celebrate this day with us !
SEVEN ( fucking)YEARS!!!!!!
