A Year Ago...

A year ago today, I posted my last post before I became a blogger hermit.... I just vanished. Poof. Gone.

A lot has happened... some not so great and some so grand.

A year ago, I received an unsettling phone call. Hmm, let me back up a little.

It was a beautiful fall morning, I remember the sun was streaming through the window and there were graceful shadows dancing on the walls. I remember being blissfully happy. I had just won a gold medal in Taipei and I was enjoying my last month being in Michigan before James was due home from a 7 months deployment. I remember I was sitting in the sitting room off to the side of the kitchen, with my laptop on my crossed legged lap, hoping to get a sweet e-mail from James.

I remember Mom had come into the house from being outside on the farm. I remember her being in the kitchen, checking the phone id, to see who had called. I remember her grabbing the cordless and dialing a number. I remember not being too concerned and I continued to roam the Internet. I remember looking up and seeing Mom's face as it fell and her hand came up to her lips. I remember the squeeze of my heart and how it slowed in to a loud thud.

I remember how Mom came to me, still talking on the phone and how she kneeled down onto her knees and said, "James has been hit." I remember how she went on to explain that he was still alive and breathing and how she stressed the fact that he was hurt but he was OKAY.

Then the rest of the story is a blurred memory. You see, James was a machine gunner on top of the humvee in the hot zone of Now Zad, Afghanistan. His convoy was hit by an rpg (rocket propelled grenade), a foot away from where James was on top. Because he was exposed to the elements, he perforated his ear drums. Since the rpg set off on James' right side, he lost more than 90% of his right ear drum and 50% of his left.

He said things went into slow motion, kind of like the scenes in Saving Private Ryan. He recalls being surrounded in a cloud of dust and blood was coming out of his ears. He shared his buddies down below were yanking his legs and trying to force him down. They were screaming at him and he was hearing nothing but ringing. He forced his buddies to finished the mission they were on.

When they returned to their post, the corpsman could not see pass all the blood and he wasn't sure about the extend of James' injuries. James was told that he would most likely have permanent hearing loss. He eventually was shipped to Germany to see a specialist and to get out of the war zone.

In Germany, they were surprised how at the extend of his injuries that he did not need surgery. His ear drums were healing on their own and he gained about 90% of his hearing back. The Lord is good.

Yes, it was a phone call but men in uniforms did not show up at my door. You see, even though the phone call brings bad news, it is those that show up at your door that brings some of the most heartbreaking news of all... your loved one is dead.

Rejoice with me, that my man is here. Rejoice with me, that he can hear. Rejoice with me, for the Lord, our God, is good.

My joy is starting again.