The Warmth of the Sun

PICTURES ARE POSTED BELOW!

I arrived at Topsail Island around 11 PM last Tuesday night and was greeted by all of my family. It was a long ride, but a great chance for me to have 7 hours of quiet time to listen to some of my favorite music and have plenty of time to talk to God. I prayed long and hard that Paul would continue to feel as well as he had so we could all enjoy this long awaited vacation.
Paul had waited up with everyone else and I was greeted with lots of hugs from them all.

The next morning, on the 4th of July, everyone relaxed and had breakfast together. There were 20 of us all together, and we were split between Mike and Mary Beth's house and the other house referred to as The Boat House, since that is where Mike's boat is docked. The houses are only few blocks away from each other so there was a lot a activity between them. That morning, there was a 4th of July parade that we were going to be a part of. The residents of the city of Topsail Island ride their bikes, scooters and golf carts along side of the walkers and they put on a mini parade for those people who are vacationing on the island for the 4th. They stand out on their decks and watch the 'parade' go by.

At 11 AM we all started to walk down to the street where the parade would begin and we noticed Paul was not with us. I started to go back to the house and I saw Paul jogging down the street with Abby dog. We all turned around and watched him come running to us. He ran with ease and was not even out of breath when he got to us. I was getting to enjoy Paul just like everyone else had been doing in the 2 days before I arrived. It was the first of many times my eyes would fill with tears as I watched Paul doing things I had dreamed of. He was having so much fun with his brothers, aunts and uncles and cousins. What change all this was since the summer before! What a fantastic blessing our family has received!

The rest of the day was spent with everyone splitting their time out on the boat, or swimming in the ocean. I was with my sisters and brother and Paul at the beach. He worked his way out into the surf, which was up to his waist at times and was able to keep his balance just fine. He had mentioned to his Aunt Kelly the day before that he had a problem with balance. She told him that his balance was not the problem, his eyesight was. He would not have been able to handle the waves otherwise. What he needed to do was to learn to adapt fully to having only one functioning eye at the time. Prayerfully, he will have the use of this left eye in time, but for now, he had to work with what he's got. And he has great balance.

Later in the day, Paul, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Keith and I took a very long walk down the beach to the point of the island. It was almost a 2 mile walk. Paul was searching for some sea shells he could give Abigail as a little surprise and he found what he was looking for. As we walked, we came upon a woman and her 2 yr old Lab. She was throwing a tennis ball out into the surf and he would chase out into the waves and leap over them to get to the ball. He would bring it back and wait with great anticipation as the woman would get ready to throw it again. Paul really enjoyed watching this and asked the woman if he could throw the ball. He threw it a few times and truly enjoyed this interaction with the dog. We then continued down the beach until we reached the point. The waves come in at a different direction since we reached the point where the ocean flows into the sound. We all stood watching the boats and jet skis come out to this area, turn around and head back into the sound. Then we started back and after walking a few feet, Paul looked down the beach and was shocked to see how far we had to walk back! He held up very well and did not have to stop to rest. It was early evening and we walked with the warmth of the sun on our backs.

That night, there was an island party at a house down the street from Mike and Mary Beth's house. Their friends roast a pig all day and in the evening they host a party for about 150 people. So many people asked us how Paul was doing and were so happy to see him there. They had heard from Mike and Mary Beth about the accident and through them, followed Paul's progress. It was fun to celebrate Paul's wellness with so many people. Later, my brother Keith brought out some cigars for the men and Paul asked Jon (brother) if he could try it too. I reminded him it may not make him feel very well and he said, "I know - I have had these before." ( We have a picture of Paul where he is on a sailboat with his Uncle Keith and it was taken the month before his accident. ) Paul enjoyed a few puffs of the cigar and then gave it back to Jon, but not before I got a picture of him with his Uncle Keith!

Later that night, everyone gathered around an area set up for karaoke. Earlier in the day, Keith showed the guys the song they would all sing that night. Paul practiced for about 5 minutes with Uncle Keith and so he was ready when their turn came up. Uncle Keith, Uncle Mike, Paul, Jon, James and Michael and my nephew Joseph and Uncle Joe got up to sing some country western song. It was another memorable moment for our families. Joseph was home on leave from his station in Germany. He was able to visit with the family before he leaves for Iraq in the Fall and so we were truly rejoicing at the sight of our men singing together! Once again, Paul stayed up until midnight. He and his brothers came back to the main house and played Texas Hold'em after the party. It really seemed more like old times for our family.

Jon and Marie left on Thursday morning very early. They were going to drive to New Hampshire to surprise her dad on his birthday. Paul was really sad to see them go and once they left, he went to bed. It was 11:45 AM and I had to wake him so he would not miss his 10 AM medicine completely. He was shocked he had slept so long and then said, "I was really tired and I had just wanted to push myself since Jon was here." I wondered if he would backslide now that Jon was gone. He got up and as we were taking Abby for a walk, he said that he wanted me to not expect him to be 'up' like this everyday. I asked him why not and he said he had worked really hard to do things with everyone, but he couldn't do it forever. I knew he was still really sad about Jon leaving, so I told him that we would take it day by day, but it would be really disappointing to see him go backward to where he was last Saturday. I told him that Jon really wanted him to visit them in Virginia and if he slid backwards, it would not happen. I encouraged him to keep struggling to make even better gains and if he could do it for 5 straight days, he could continue adding days. The choice was his. It was then I realized that some of his headache issue is more psychological than physical. He needed something to aim for in his recovery. What he perceives as recovery is too big a chunk for him. I explained to him that what he had accomplished in 5 days was so awesome and that he needed to set little goals ahead of him. Like taking over the job of his laundry for the next week. Then maybe he could add on little things like helping to cook dinner. Once we talked about 'bite-size' pieces of recovery, he seemed more upbeat about it. I told him that he had shown us all that he could travel well and could really take care of himself. That meant he could visit family and go on trips again. He started to talk about how much fun it would be to go see Jon and Marie. He also added that he would not travel anywhere if he had to leave his dog home for a long time! We know that one Paul!

The one highlight for me was the night we took a boat ride. Mike, Mary Beth, Joe, Bev, James, Paul, Shannon, Keith, Kelly and I went out on a little cruise in the early evening. We got out into the sound and Mary turned on some music. Paul was sitting in the front, up on the side of the boat and when the music started he came over to where I was sitting and he said, "I believe I owe you a dance." He said he missed getting to dance with me at Jon's wedding, so he was going to make up for it now. We had our dance after all. Yes, you can bet I had tears in my eyes at that moment. Mike took us up the sound and then we traveled to the intercoastal waterways and meandered through there for about an hour. At one point, he sped up to 45 miles per hour and the boat didn't hit down on the water hard at all. It is a deep sea fishing boat, so it cut through the water like a knife through butter. Paul was so thrilled with it all as he sat right up front! It was about the most fun thing we did on this trip. We were out on the boat for 2 hours! I also realized at this point that Paul had not mentioned a headache since I had gotten to Topsail Island. I had not thought of his medicine either. I only had to tend to his eye in the morning and the evening. Paul was pretty much on his own.

When I spoke to Jerry about it, he said he would not let Paul slide back into his old ways! As a surprise, he had the workout room ready when Paul got back. There was a TV and entertainment center set up with surround sound and there would be no excuses for Paul not to excercise! Paul was really happy to see this area completed and we will work to get him on a real schedule.

God blessed us with a healing this past week. We remain hopeful for a continuation of it.
I have to close now and get to my job, but I will post more pictures and tell more stories tomorrow! I hope this posting today brings joy to all of you, just as watching Paul this past week brought joy to our extended family.

May the warmth of the Son of God be with you today.
Love,
Jon and Rebecca