Nine Years
Nine years. It has been nine years now since I have held my baby, or heard her sweet voice.
Nine years, the same amount of time she spent on this earth she has now spent with Jesus. In nine years a person can forget many things but sometimes the situation is so great it becomes imbedded within our DNA and while the mind might forget, the body never does. Nine years and my body still grieves each year at this time.
For those who dont know, my youngest was born with a form of Muscular Dystrophy. The doctors suggested that she would not live much past the age of 2 1/2 and she was already 16 months old. God had other plans and allowed us to enjoy Jessica for 9 1/2 years.
How blessed we were for those extra years and all those extra smiles.
It seems so appropriate that Jessica's New Birth Day be the first day of spring. Her smile was the warmth of a spring day after a long winter. Everytime Jess would get sick and rebound it was like a new spring day. Yes, Jessica was a touch of spring in everyones life, that breath of fresh air that reminded us that life is good.
Nine years ago, as spring arrived, Jessica departed. She went to a place where there were no hospital beds, no wheelchairs. or oxygen tanks, no feeding tubes, no meds required, no more back braces, or leg braces, no more pain, no more being confined to a body that was wearing away. Jessica was free at last!
Happy New Birth Day Jessica!
The painting Free At Last was done in memory of Jessica by a family friend and artist Dona Boots of Ellwood City, PA.
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