THE SPIRIT REMAINS

A little girl; so afraid of death. Dreaming about "The Boogie Man" taking me away, "Monsters" eating me; I somehow managed to fly away from that black hole of darknes, waking up in a panic. My Nana comforting me reasuring me that the "Tree" is a sign; LIFE RETURNS. Trees lose their leaves during the winter, and come to Life in the spring. Some say; Trees have a spirit, Animals have a spirit, Plants have a spirit, every Living-Breathing thing has a spirit. Somewhere along the way, I realized how grande Life can be. If I focus on what is missing, I'll miss out on the Moment. The Moment in time that will never come again. Don't take the moment for granted. Regret: I wish I had...

Opportunity comes along with every moment. We grow up wanting; to be accepted, respected, loved, needed, desired, happy, and successful. Things tempt our false sense of happiness. Things give others a perception towards measuring of our success; where we live, what we drive, how we dress, how much we have in our bank accounts, our professional acomplishments.

When I was 16 I was riding in the car with my so called best friend. We were stopped behind a school bus; "The Handicapped Kids" My so called best friend (always enterntaining) began acting out and mocking them. Overwhelmed, disgusted, and enraged, I told her to stop the car.
I told her that she was disrespecting the opportunity she had been given. I told her that they did not ask to be born like that, and that anything could happen to anyone at Moment in time. That she could be in a car accident and become like them. " How would you feel?" I told her that I never wanted to speak to her again, and I walked home.

Was G_D watching? They say Mothers are chosen for the handicapped. Irma Bombeck wrote a poem about that.

In 1984 Drew was born. A Gift that would humble my false sense of success. I remember the Doctor coming in to talk with me and my husband; his shoulders were slumped and his head hanging down as he began to speak. Drew was born with Down Syndrome. He asked me how I felt. I told him that I believe; Drew was a gift from G_D, and that I will love him as much as Rikki and Jensen, and treat him equally.

Drew was born with a hole in the middle of his heart. At 3 months of age he had a heart catheryzation. The doctors gave him less than a 50% chance to survive. I had no doubt that he would survive. How is that possible? I ran into my sister-in- law weeks before Drew's surgery.
She told me something that I would carry with me for the rest of my life. She had been to a psychic and the woman (well respected) told her that one of her sister-in laws was pregnant and going to have a baby with Down Syndrome, months before Drew was born. There were 3 of us pregant at the time. The psychic told her that he would be born with a heart conditon and that he would live a beautiful life, although it would be cut short. That he would have 3 surgeries and not survive the 3rd. We spent almost an entire summer in the childrens hospital. Every day I witnessed tragedies, I watched families fall apart and kids die. Death isn't a social class, Death has no predjudice, Death is not a curse. Death is the part of life that reminds us to pay attention to "The Moment".

Drew passed away October 17, 1996: complications from a Staph Infection. Although the Gifts he gave are immeasurable. His Spirit Remains...