Seven Years

Today is a very special day for celebration.  Not a day goes by that I don’t appreciate having my mom in my life, but today is especially momentous.  Today marks seven years since my mom had a stem cell transplant.  I don’t know how to best describe the overwhelming feelings of gratitude, humility and love I have for both her and the woman who donated her ‘marrow’ that saved my mother’s life, but we are forever indebted to the kindness of a stranger.

A year after my mother had her transplant, we requested the opportunity to meet this woman.  She happily obliged.  At the time, she lived just an hour south of me (she could have lived anywhere, and here she was just an hour from my door step). My mom flew in from Florida a few days before we planned to meet her. We were both anxious and excited to meet her. Of course, we wanted to tell her thank you, but how exactly do you tell someone who saved your life ‘thank you’ and have it mean the full weight of the feelings we held in our hearts?  What if she didn’t like us?  What if we freaked her out with all this gushing of gratefulness?

The day we planned to meet, it rained as we drove down to her home, but it couldn’t have been more sunny in the car.  My brother joined us, as well, and the three of us were bouncing around in the car, like little kids, on our way to see Mickey Mouse for the first time. As we parked and got out of the car, my mother’s donor ran down the driveway to greet us.  It was a breath taking occasion to watch them embrace.  A new branch on our family tree grew that day – our family was bestowed an incredible blessing.

Today is a very special day for celebration, so from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.