Touching....Getting Old, Family and Friends

Hey Everyone,

Angry Rob back for another post. Recently I read an article in "Men's Health" magazine about a Father and his son. The article is titled "My Son, Solved" written by Hamilton Cain. This article was about a father and a disabled son. The son has a disease which more or less completely cripples the body. This disease is called "Spinal Muscular Atrophy". Cripples the body to the point where the body can barely move, breathe and can not speak. It was forever thought by the family that the boy would never be able to communicate. They would speak, sing, play and try to teach the boy and they never received any kind of response. Around the age of six, the father had basically thought that he would never be able to communicate with his son. One day, the boys therapist, I assume something like a physical therapist, figured out that if she held the boys hand a certain angle and gave him a felt pen, the boy could actually right. Being that the body was so crippled, the young son did not have enough power to actually write anything. He was not physically able to press a pen or pencil hard enough to make a mark on the paper. As the therapist began to work more with the child, they quickly realized how intelligent the boy had become. Even though he was unable to speak and no one really knew how much information he was absolving, he quietly learned about all things around him. As they quickly found out, the boy was very literate and very intelligent. Even when asked who his mom and dad wanted to be the next president, the young boy wrote down Barack Obama, even spelling it correctly. I will not go into all the details of this story but I definitely recommend tracking down and reading this article.

There were actually two things that teared my eyes a little. Two notes written by this young child. The first being " Daddy: You are so great. Your Family loves you so much for doing family stuff always. I love your you. Your Son, Super Owie." and the second which is in reference to a song his father sang to him as a child and continued to sing to him through his young years, "I love how this song makes me feel about my dad. It makes me feel happy and healthy on days that are sad. I am only six but I remember when I was a baby and my dad would sing it to me and I loved it. Now I listen to every word every time I hear my song and daddy's. I love our song very much. I love my dad very much so. Owen." Both of these notes are taken straight from the article. Now I do not have any kids, so I am not sure why this affects me so much. I do have a father who I still see on a daily basis and talk to constantly and I am sure that has something to do with it. It is just nice to see that in a world with constant bad news, there is still some hope and amazing things happening. Never forget the power of a heart felt note to someone you truly care about.

All that being said, I figure another reason why this is affecting me in this way is much to my dismay, I am apparently getting older. Every day I see the world in a slightly different way. I am by no means old, but I do remember when I was in high school, and I would meet someone my age, I would classify them as old. I also know that I by no means know everything or have even seen a fraction of what this world has to offer. I have learned many valuable lessons along the way. I have been blessed, to this point anyways, of having very few people I know pass into the next life, world or whatever you believe.

I recently had to tell my best friend that his father had passed in a tragic car accident. So I have seen up close what this can do to people. This person was my uncle who I was never close with, but was close with the rest of the family. While tragic, his death did reveal many good things to me though. While this was a horrible ordeal, of which I would not wish upon anyone, what did happen is the family did get closer together. All of this happened about two weeks before christmas. I was notified late night around 9 or 10 o'clock. I was one of the first to know. I remember being in shock and then being given the task of tracking down my cousin and best friend, and having to tell him what had happened. This was by far the hardest thing I ever had to do. I called him and had him come over. Looking in his eyes he had no idea and I think truly believed there was something wrong with me. I remember having the hardest time I have ever had trying to tell someone anything. Of course this being devastating news, he had to take a few minutes and we quickly started to head out of town on a snowy night. We ended up going out with my parents, my sisters, my other aunt and uncle, My cousin and his wife as well as myself. When we got there, our pastor was just getting ready to leave. After about a half hour, every one came into the kitchen, which is our most common spot to talk in any household, and just began to talk with each other and do whatever we could to make things better. So suffice to say, my family was there in a instant. No one person there had a second thought about running out of town and help console the family for their loss. Not one person worried about Christmas or work or how late it was. At this time, nothing else but Family mattered. So even though this was the worst day of their lives, the family ultimately became much more close and continue to be to this day. Everyone has moved on and put that day behind them and everyone seems to be flourishing.

So basically, what I learned, there is always a bright side. It may not be seen immediately and in all actuality it may never be seen, but it will be there. I also learned that above all else, the Family that cares about one another, is by far one of our most valuable resources. Family, Friends, these are the things we need. In a world full of daily horrific, terrifying and sometimes flat out disgusting news, if you have people you truly care about, you can find a way to get through it all. Don't forget it.

Angry Rob