Moving On and Moving Out

Well I have had the busiest and most random few days...which means that this blog entry will most likely be a bit random...since I haven't quite settled myself from the random busyness yet!   So well said...makes you want to keep reading, right? :)

So...here's the Moving On part:

Mercedes Man, (aka my husband of 22 years), celebrated his birthday at the end of last week!  And hitting 2 notches above the half century mark didn't even cause him to blink and eye.  Nope, he was excited...as were his girls...and his wife, (that's me)...even though it does seem a little weird to me that I am married to a man in his 50's.  He is a bit older than me, but really how did we get to this phase so quickly?  Probably because we had 2 girls and I've spent the better part of the last 18 years sleep deprived.  Well, that was random...but I warned you that may happen...I'm focusing now.

So why were we all so excited to see the man grow another year older?  Because Mercedes Man is also Miracle Man...which will explain the Mercedes Man tag in a minute.  You see, just a little less than 2 years ago...after battling 10 years of medical challenges, my husband was diagnosed with liver cancer.  (If you know me then you have probably been following my email updates for the past 2 years and know all of this...but for those of you who don't here's his story in a nutshell).  My husband's medical situation is complicated but I won't bore you with the details.  Bottom line, with a liver cancer diagnosis for him, liver transplant was the only option.  It was life or death...it was scary...we were dependant on a miracle because a living donor was out of the question.

In April of 2010 someone else's loss became our gift of life...and we don't take that lightly!  God provided the liver transplant much quicker than we had expected and just in the nick of time.  We later found out that the cancer had spread throughout the liver and in approximately 2 weeks would have grown to the extent that transplantation would not have been an option.  No transplant then would have left us with no man now!  Thus the enthusiasm we all greeted his birthday with!

The miracle of a liver transplant is why we call him Mercedes Man...no, not because there is a doc out there driving a brand new Mercedes thanks to all the medical bills we've paid...well there might just be, but that's not the reason, (and if there is I'll not begrudge him that pleasure since you can't put a price on the man's life).  We call him Mercedes Man because that's the term used for the type of incision made on his belly to get the old liver out and the new one in.   It looks pretty much like the inside of the Mercedes emblem.  The scar starts at the bottom of his sternum, splits off at the top of his abdomen and the right (liver) side extends farther, wrapping around the side.  We have post op pics but I won't share...grody...but I'm just thankful that he didn't have a scar called the VW! :)  In fact we don't mind the scar at all...we celebrate that too...as a sign of the miracle God worked through the hands of a highly skilled transplant team.

Mercedes Man has had many serious complications on his road to recovery, but he is doing some better now.  He's Moving On into this second chance of life and we are happy to be going with him!

Now on to Moving Out...not the same emotional high as Moving On...more like a roller coaster of 'mom feelings':

While celebrating the man's birthday we were also busy moving the 1st born into her college dorm...and so the roller coaster effect began...

Pride - for all the hard work that the Joyster had put into landing scholarships and getting loans and grants,  Thanksgiving - to the Lord for all He has done in her life and this situation to bring her to this place, Sadness - that my girl doesn't sleep down the hall from me or come home every afternoon to tell me about her day anymore, Relief - that we have texting (she even sent me a pic in her '1st day of school outfit' :))  Excitement - to see how she grows and all that the Lord has in store for her in this next phase!

She is just down the interstate from me (thankfully not in another state) and I will get to see her more than some mom's get to see their college kids (another thankful moment) but I did think I might cry when I saw her settled into her dorm room and we had to drive away.  This would have been huge as I am not a mom who cries much...didn't do the Kindergarten cry - usually embrace each new phase with excitement for my kids.  But going into this felt so much different than anything before.  I knew she was right where God wanted her and that she would be fine, (her sis and she had weathered being without either parent post transplant for 2+ months), but I wasn't done with her yet!  I love my teenagers...sometimes they make me a little crazy...but they are great girls and a lot of fun and I miss them when they are not around.  However on that move-in weekend, (her university drags it out with a lot of family activities - more to help the parents than students I'm sure) I had such a sense of peace and joy that not a single tear formed, let alone dropped...of course knowing that she's close enough for me to get to her if I want helped too!

She looked too darned cute in that dorm room...and we were having too much fun settling her in and touring the campus!

Life will be different...

But she will only get better and better because of this God given opportunity...

and hopefully I will get better and better at trying to figure out how to parent through this phase of life

When it comes right down to it, I guess I am celebrating Moving Out too...because for the Joyster it is a Moving On and she is headed in a great direction...and via text messages I'm getting to enjoy much of her ride!

Serving Him and You,

~Michelle...ApronGirl