Week 4

Clay is doing well -- he completed the last week of his preschool's camp and is enjoying our new swing set. This week's appointment showed no significant drops in his blood counts (this is a good thing). Overall, the clinic was a bit chaotic as more siblings seem to be along due to school being out. The many generous organizations we are learning about, such as Candlelighters, always have volunteers on hand giving out snacks, games, and stuffed animals. This week was no exception and Clay has added a large yellow chick to his growing collection. Our next two appointments will thankfully be shorter ones as he gets a break from the medicine that requires a 1 hr drip (and a 2 hr infusion of saline to buffer the impact). His patience for spending 6 hrs. in a doctor's office each week is waning.

I have been reading a good number of books lately searching for insight on how others faced with difficult situations have found faith and strength when their world has turned upside down. (There are rows and rows of these books in the Arlington library. Please let me know if you have a favorite.) The most helpful to me so far have been When Bad Things Happen to Good People written by Harold Kushner, a Jewish rabbi whose son was diagnosed at 3 with a disease with no cure. Also, Learning from the Heart, by Daniel Gottlieb, who became a quadriplegic at 33. In a chapter called Children's Dreams and Parent's Faith, he quotes Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet. I think this is a beautiful poem for any parent.

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.

They come through you but not from you,

And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,

For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies, but not their souls,

For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.