So we just passed a very interesting anniversary for our family...one that has been challenging and triumphal all at the same time! Five years ago, on April 15th, 2006, Alan collapsed into his first grand mal seizure and it was the beginning of the most difficult yet most character shaping period of our lives together to date. As I think back on all that we have been through, that day seems like a life time ago and just as mothers tend to forget the pains of delivering children, I think the same phenomenom has occured to soften the blow of that fateful morning...when two words forever changed the path we were headed on...brain tumor. But I have to say that as I focus on all the good that has come from these experiences, I am grateful for all the tools and support and love I have been given to help us along the way. A dear friend battling breast cancer (diagnosed shortly before Alan) once wisely shared with me that although she may not ever be able to say she is grateful for cancer, she is grateful for the growth it has inspired and unlocked (sometimes forcefully!) as would not have otherwise come about. I also am too human to bring myself to say that I am grateful for Alan's condition, and would even go so far to say that I probably still would not choose to live through it if given the choice, what I can admit is that as I look back on this "ride", I know that there are specific moments and experiences that I wouldn't trade for the clearest MRI! I love my family and especially my sweetheart for all he has endured, knowing that at times it was only just for us that he kept fighting and still does! (The picture above is the morning of Alan's first surgery :)
