Happy 29, Best Friend

We have this human tendency when something goes wrong, to focus only on the parts that went sour. I'm guilty of having done this over the past 3 days, with this whole accident thing: 

Rob's injured, and in pain. 

We're 5 hours from home. 

We're holed up in either a hotel or hospital room all day. 

The bike is wrecked. 

We've spent a lot of money on this already. 

We're both missing work. 

When really, while those are legitimate concerns, they should be only be part one of TWO: 

Rob's injured, and in pain... but he is alive.
We're 5 hours from home... but with friends and family to keep watch while we're gone.
We're holed up in either a hotel or hospital room all day... but we are together.

The bike is wrecked... but it is salvageable.  

We've spent a lot of money on this already... but we have saved and will not struggle. 

We're both missing work... but we have jobs that understand the situation.

So today, we spent the morning packing up our hotel room, checked out of said hotel room, and headed back to the medical center to prepare for the day's outpatient surgery. I have to admire hospital staff for their compassion and patience with people like Rob [and very much so myself as well, in these circumstances], who try but don't succeed at hiding the fear of anesthesia, surgery, blades and that unknown gap that comes from being unconscious.

pre-surgery

They wheeled him back for surgery, and I sat patiently in the waiting room, praying for steady doctor's hands and a seamless procedure. The sigh of relief came about an hour later when Dr. Carlson appeared in the waiting area to tell me it went exactly as planned and that Rob was in recovery. 

We are given every single new day and every moment of that day not because we deserve it, but because there is grace and mercy. By the miracles of modern medicine and the exacted training of doctors and surgery technicians, we are able to be put to sleep and awoken again at bidding. Through it all, we are held safe in the protection of God's hand, because He does not leave nor forsake us, even for a minute. It's incredible. 

post-surgery

And that was that. Rob came back to the real world, the sleepy parts of his brain falling back into a conscious step with one another, until he was ready to journey downstairs. We ate lunch in the cafeteria, filled his final prescription, and then loaded into the car for the 4.5-hour ride home. 

heading home! 

beautiful view along the way! 

The first thing we saw upon pulling up to the house was that someone had taken the initiative to mow the lawn. There were about 3 options in my head of who that could've been, but before I could fully process them, the most obvious - and obviously correct choice came walking out of my front door, right between my parents. Becky, you are a saving grace and one of the best friends I think I've ever had.

My parents and Sydni were elated to see us, and Mom wasted no time getting down to business on the dinner she'd prepared in advance as a way to welcome us home and alleviate the burden of cooking dinner on top of a 5-hour drive. They truly are amazing.

Sydni is heading back up to Mt. Vernon with my parents tomorrow, and Rob will stay here and relax. I'll head back to work [finally], and we'll continue on with our week as scheduled.

For now, I'm off to volleyball, because the world doesn't stand still for long, and I've got a game to play :).

Happy 29th birthday to my best friend.. and good night to you, dear blogbots!

xo | cmd