In the past couple of weeks, James and I have had incredibly amazing times and incredibly hard times. After our wonderful Christmas at Grandpa’s, James’ physiotherapist had him doing stairs, which meant he was able to spend New Years at home. It was so special and meaningful to James and I to be able to start the New Year together in our home. After a night out with my family, James and I cheers’ed our ginger ale filled wine glasses together and celebrated the New Year.
Just a few days later James celebrated his 28th birthday and was again able to come home. His family came over from the Island and took us out for a nice dinner then his friends came over to our home the following day to celebrate and visit. I felt unbelievably lucky to have my James here to celebrate another year.
After the hype of the holidays it was back to work for James. The therapists have been blown away by his progress and are now starting to reassess where he is at so they can work on new things.
Getting weekend passes home is becoming a regular thing for James. Something for him and I to look forward to throughout the difficult week. This past weekend James and I went to see a movie with my sister and her boyfriend who kindly helped with getting James in and out of the car along with hauling the equipment James is coming home with these days. I must say it felt really good to do something we used to enjoy doing before the accident. Doing these kind of activities, lying in bed looking at him across from me, eating meals with him at home, playing with our dog Bettie, listening to our favorite music… these were the things I hoped for and looked forward to when he was lying there, helpless in that ICU bed in Winnipeg. It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was hoping for what I now have.
The hardest part for him and I now is saying goodbye on Sunday nights. It’s so hard to take him back to GF Strong after having a somewhat normal weekend with my husband. It seems I just get used to him being home, then before we know it, I am obliged to take him back.
Since things have stabilized over the past several weeks, James and I have been really missing Mike, James’ wonderful and true friend that was tragically killed in the accident. Our grieving was put on hold as James fought for his life several times in hospital and although I have been thinking of Mike and his family since the day of the accident, it wasn’t until the last few weeks that I have truly missed him. It seems there is something missing from our lives and we are so unbelievably sad. Our hearts go out to Mike’s girlfriend, Melina and the Gurr family in Nanaimo. There is not a day that goes by that we do not think about Mike and his family.
For now, James continues to work hard at GF Strong and we are trying to get the most out of the time we have together.
