Life and Love Endures

No matter what has happened in your life, 

You have the power to change what that event means to you

and this changes your experience both emotionally and physically - - 

therin lies your power to heal.
~  Dr. Christiane Northrup

This morning I was at the hospital - - making a blood platelet donation - - helping to save the life of a 14-year-old girl who is awaiting a bone marrow donor/transplant.  While she awaits a donor match, she is receiving weekly transfusions of my personal blood platelets.  WOW!   There is no greater gift I know of, than to be able to make this kind of contribution - - give of myself, of body, to help a total stranger.    I am beyond humble and grateful for the ability and the choice I made - - in memory of Boomer - - to be a regular donor (read:  Track Marks).    As a donor, you always carry this hope that your contribution will help someone, but you rarely, if ever actually know.  Hope for me was proven evident when I got the call from the Lee Memorial Blood Center asking me to come make additional donations because I am the closest match for this young girl.   Wow.

Picnic in the Park, 2009

***

I wore Boomer's wedding ring around my neck for a year after he died (read:  Mood Ring).   What was I going do with it now?  Let it just sit in my jewelry box?  Nah, that isn't it.  I called my daughter, Dara, to ask for her opinion.  "I have an idea," I said, "I see the love Adam has for you and I know how much Boomer loved you too.  You were like his own daughter.  I see the love Adam has for you and it reminds me of the love Boomer had for me.  Mothers or Grandmothers often pass on heirloom engagement rings to their sons when they get engaged.

Silly faces, Dara & Boomer, 2010

Well, I'd like to
put our own spin on things and give you Boomer's wedding ring for you to give to Adam - - when the time comes - - if he'll have it.  What do you think?"   "I hate when you make me cry, that's what I think."   Although Adam never met Boomer, I know they would be fans of each other because they both love an O'Regan Girl.   This afternoon I was at the jeweler, dropping off Boomer's wedding ring.  It will be inscribed with two dates:  10/17/09 and 9/6/14.   Dara and Adam are getting married on September 6th.  The other date is our wedding date (read:  I Do.) Ironic that Boomer's ring fits Adam perfectly?   Nope.  Just perfectly right.

***

It is absolutely no coincidence all this occurred on this day, July 23rd, the 17th anniversary of my first-date with Boomer.  My activities call me to question:  Is it possible that in helping to save the life of a young girl, I too am saved - - from the shackles of pain and heartache from a life now over?   Is offering Boomer's ring to another kind, loving, generous man representative that I can see what I once had and hope for others to receive it too?   Yes.  The experience of today is all new, special, and beautifully poignant.   Affirmation that life and love endures and I am in a very different place than I was one year ago.  That my jumping-off last July 23rd (read: Go Big!) turned the page in my healing and moving forward with life.   I spent today doing really cool things, reflecting on the ultra-cool thing I did last year, celebrating how far I've come, humbled in the enlightenment and transformation I continue experiencing in my relationship with Boomer - - then and now.  How vastly different my life is today, the depth of gratitude I hold close for all that has come and gone - - because life and love are never forgotten.  They endure.