It’s hard to imagine I have only posted a handful of times in the last year. Mike is always asking me when I will write another blog. “Soon,” I tell him, or “When I know what I want to say.” Mike has candidly confessed to me that he wishes I wasn’t so writerly and that I could just post some simple updates, type a few words here and there, share something rather than let the several hundred faithful readers we have go without something about our dear, fighting boy. Yes, it’s true. I should do that. But in some ways that would be like trying to recreate myself and I think I’ve gone through enough personality transformations in the last couple years. (Those of you who know me all too well: please try to nod your head a little less enthusiastically at this comment!) Now that I’ve gotten my nearly annual apology out for not writing enough, let me delve into all that I have to share. In the last several months we have done the following:
1. We packed up all our junk in our tiny Alexandria home and put it on the market.
2. We dealt with many last-minute home showings, resulting in chaotic dinners at our local Panera Bread, where they have a microwave to heat Noah’s keto meals and where I can leave some of the mess behind. Now, mind you, I did take great pains to clean up everything, even the smashed avocado on the floor.
3. We sold our little home, the one my hubby renovated from top to bottom, in only six weeks, packing our life into a rectangular storage unit.
4. We moved into my parents’ house for six weeks while our new home was being built.
5. After taking away every moment of silence my parents had grown accustomed to since their children had moved away, and after all lamps, small tables, and anything sharp or glass had been hidden, we took all our stuff and our wild-haired toddlers and we moved into our new house in the country.
6. We now live closer to Richmond than Washington, DC. Our home has a main floor so large that Avry rides his little bike around the house. The house sits on more than two acres and the boys spend every afternoon running in and out of ditches and across the bright green grass that is just beginning to sprout, Noah awkward but full of laughs, Avry with his fierce red hair and toothy grin.
7. Noah is now in special education preschool four days a week and I’m pretty sure he loves every minute of it. He says “dool” for school. His hair is cut short now and I’ve found a hair gel that is keto friendly, so my little Noah goes to his new school with rock star hair and the graphic T-shirts I can’t get enough of. You should see this kid in his Transformers T-shirt, his torn jeans and choppy, spikey hair – you’d think he was in an ‘80’s punk band, not a child who spends everyday overcoming more obstacles than most of us can imagine.
8. We drive on completely new roads every day, sometimes making wrong turns and getting lost, but always discovering new territories, new places to make us smile, horses, cows, rows of corn, so many things I never knew I could love as a city girl, so many things that represent a newness in our life. We’ve said goodbye to all the old roads, the ones that remind us of HER, of THEN, of this fight that will never really end.
We are stilling living out of boxes, picking and choosing which parts of the old life are important, which bits we want to bring into this new world, this unflawed journey. There are too many flies here in the country and lots of spiders, so life will never be perfect, but it sure continues to be a blessing.
So glad that everyone is doing well. I would love to see more pictures of Noah and Avry. I pray that God continues to bless your family.
So glad to see a new post! Just wanted to let you know that I am still praying for your family and Noah every day!
Susan kyger-Harrisonburg va