A couple years ago I’m belly deep in water on a beach in Florida with my wife and kids...the sun is warm, the water’s cool and beautifully clear…every few minutes one of us let’s out a giggle from the fish that are playfully nibbling at our feet. And then I feel something on the ocean floor- when I’m fully convinced its not a shark or other weird sea creature... I go down for it. A few seconds later I pop up holding the perfect sand dollar that I proudly raise in the air- which set’s off a family competition of who could find the biggest and best one. From a distance we probably looked like a human version of whack-a-mole (without the whacking of course) as our heads were repeatedly going in and out of the water. The exploring led us to find, what we called Sand Dollar City- a seemingly endless and breathtaking expanse of sand dollars that went on as far as the eye could see on the ocean floor. But because they were deeper, and because they took a lot more breath and energy to
The other day a commercial came on that I think was about cereal. It ended with the dad giving his son a celebration hip check (because this is always what you want to do after eating Raisin Bran :) ). Both were smiling from ear to ear with their perfect father-and- son relationship in their beautiful, perfect house. Everything seemed for them... well…normal...without problems - no disease, no disorders, no Bell's Palsy. And this question mixed with complaint crossed my mind, "Why can't I have that?" All in all, life has been pretty close to a "celebration hip check" for me. Yes, there have been some small bumps and stitches along the way. (And yes, I could have done without the softball collision that broke my entire face.) But for the most part, it's been good...normal. A few years ago our " normal" was hijacked, and my family and I were left trying to figure out what happened, what to do, and how we were going to move on witho