Graduation & New England Fall Trip

I know I REALLY need to update the blog with all the latest happenings in our life.  It’s been way too long and the blog posts are in the making.  Most likely it will have to be a 3 part blog with all we’ve done in April & May.  I promise I will get to it.  I just really felt the need to digress from our “regularly scheduled life” to share what’s been on my heart the last couple of weeks.

Last week was the one year anniversary of a fellow 2^nd heart transplant friend’s passing.  Stephanie was just shy of 3 months post heart transplant.  A wife, mother, sister, daughter, & friend to so many; her life paralleled mine in many ways, and there was an instant connection of our souls.  It was her passing just days before my final visit/testing at Stanford that caused me to hesitate wanting to be back on the waiting list again.  Her passing affected me in ways I never saw coming, even to the point of blurting out to a cardiology fellow, “Honestly, I’m not sure I want to go through this transplant thing again.”

Praise Jesus that He knew better than I. 

This last week, my mind doesn’t wander too far away from thoughts of Stephanie and her family.  Her friends and family continue to write posts to her on her FB page and it is truly inspiring to see how much she impacted so many lives & continues to - one year after departing this earth. 

Heavy on my heart this week is Eli.  This is really “his” week.  The week he’s been on my mind every year and even more so since I learned the day of his vehicle accident, which day he was pronounced brain dead, and which day I received “the call.”  It doesn’t matter to me that his heart no longer physically resides in my chest; he and his family will always be in my heart and a part of my life, even though I’ve never met them.  And each year on or around June 8^th, I’ll continue to celebrate my “honorary heart” anniversary to commemorate the life he gave me.  The life that sustained me for 26+ years longer than my original heart.

I’ve had sleepless nights the last few nights just thinking of how amazing this whole year has been and what a journey it’s been to get here.  And it amazes me…still.  All of it. 

This song is for God.  This song is for Eli & his family.  This song is for the strong young lady who’s heart beats steadily inside of me now, and her family.

Good To Be Alive

Jason Gray

Hold on
Is this really the life I'm living?
'Cause I don't feel like I deserve it
Every day that I wake, every breath that I take you’ve given
So right here, right now
While the sun is shining down

I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive, yeah

Hold on
If the life that we've been given
Is made beautiful in the living
And the joy that we get brings joy to the heart of the giver
Then right here, right now
This is the song I'm singing out

I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive

I won’t take it for granted
I won’t waste another second
All I want is to give you
A life well lived, to say “thank you”

I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be, it's good to be alive

I wanna live like there's no tomorrow
Love like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive

I won’t take it for granted
I won’t waste another second
All I want is to give you
A life well lived, to say “thank you”