I look forward to Friday night all week. I get to spend the night with Emily on what we call an extended "Daddy Daughter Date" where we get to sleep over together and spend Saturday morning playing together. Tonight we played with clay, took a bath, sang some songs, and then I found myself in the listener role.
Emily talked about missing home and how hard it is to be in the hospital for so long. She misses all the simple things. All the things we take for granted. She misses walking through the door and having her brother or sister there to say hi, she misses a snuggle with her dad and a few licks from her dog (that mom never approves of), she misses her mom welcoming her home from school, the smell of her home, the feeling of her bed sheets, the security of knowing that she's in her room and that she's in control. Emily's life for the past three weeks has consisted of one room, one hallway, and one bath tub. As she expressed her emotions she was in a sense saying, "Dad, do I really have three more weeks of this??"
I suppose it might be like having Tigger bouncing around the Hundred-Acre Woods and then putting him into one room and telling him this is his life for the next six weeks. The good news with Emily is that she hasn't lost her bounce...
Despite all these things she still manages to make others smile with her positive attitude, willingness to do the hard things, and her desire to do what's right. At the end of today she was tired and ready for sleep, but she still wanted me to read her a story in the scriptures and offer a short prayer. Even though it was short, it had the necessary components for her, a prayer of faith to get better and an expression of gratitude for Heavenly Father watching over her. I hope you don't mind me sharing but I wanted to remember her innocence, faith and gratitude years down the road so I recorded the sound and have posted it below.
- Matt
2 comments:
That is precious. I am glad that she knows that you listen to her and also that Heavenly Father watched over her... That is very poinant. Thanks for sharing Matt!
Hi Miss Emily! I am so glad that your mommy and daddy share you with us every day! You are so special! I wanted to tell you a quick story that happened just because of you today! Leesa Jones, Kaylee Larsen and I got to run in a really long race, and towards the end, we started to get really tired. We all thought about giving up because it was getting too hard, but then Leesa reminded us that YOU don't give up, and so we couldn't either. She said "let's do this run for Emily! If she can be strong, so can we!" So, we got to run and think about you so much today - and it was your little spirit that helped all of us finish! We called it "Emily's Run!" I will always love today for that! It made me smile even bigger when I got to cross the finish line! You are going to get to cross your own kind of finish line soon too sweetie! Thank you for being such a good example to all of us! I can only imagine how tired you are of the hospital, but you keep smiling,and keep fighting! We are all excited for you to come home too, but we want you to get better first! I love you tons and tons! I hope we can play next week! Love, Jessica
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