Hope Springs Eternal

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering “it will be happier”…

Alfred Tennyson

I thought the above quote fit rather well given that our word of the month is “hope”, and if you ask my family they will tell you that I am always ready with a good quote for any situation. I felt this one was particularly applicable given that we are entering year two of a pandemic that has seen us riding a roller coaster of emotions, making hope more important than ever.

The Virus Hits Home

The last few months have challenged our family like nothing else in recent memory. When our son contracted COVID just before Christmas, we had to to “flex our hope muscle” like never before. After two ER visits we knew that he was not in the “14 days in quarantine and you’ll be fine category”, but little did we know that it would be much longer than that with lots of ups and downs before he was feeling well enough to be out in the world again.

It is difficult to describe how helpless we felt knowing how sick he was and not being able to be there to help because of COVID travel restrictions. Our strong, athletic son was ill and essentially on his own.

Each day was a roller coaster ride in and of itself. Hope, prayers and a belief that things would get better kept us all going through many a difficult day and night.

When our son asked me for an inspirational quote, I knew that he really wasn’t feeling well. What came to mind was my old standby, “this too shall pass.” I’m not sure how inspirational it was but I wasn’t about to take any chances so I sent him a plaque with the quote on it and told him to keep it where he would see it often.

When he told me that I didn’t have to phone every day, I knew he was feeling better. But, just to make sure that we had a little more practice being hopeful, the universe threw us a curve ball and a few weeks later, symptoms reappeared.

We feel very fortunate that our son continues to recover and, although the road ahead will continue to have bumps, we remain hopeful that he will slowly but surely get his life back to normal.

In looking back I do have to say that one of our biggest worries is the mental toll all of this is taking on him, but we are so proud of the strength and positivity he displays day after day, even on days when it is really hard to be hopeful.

Tiny Dancer

Through our son’s illness we are reminded of the importance of having hope to get through challenging times. But hope is also important in our life in a different way.

Meet Hope, our oldest grandchild and only granddaughter. She is about four years old in this picture and as you can see she likes to dance. You would never know from this picture (or now) that Hope was a preemie weighing only three pounds at birth.

Her time in hospital was stressful for all and, as with our son, it was hope, prayers and a belief that everything would be OK that helped get us through. With that in mind, although her parents had originally chosen another name, they decided Hope was the perfect name for her as it reflected their gratitude and hope for the future.

After spending a month in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Hope was able to come home and hasn’t missed a beat since. She is now a bright, kind, energetic teenager who is busy doing typical teenager things – working on getting her learners permit, doing her makeup, hair and nails, and hanging out with her friends. Watching her grow and flourish reminds me of the importance of having hope (both the person and the emotion) in our lives. And that is definitely a good thing.

Words have strong meaning for me and although some may not agree, quotes have helped get me through many difficult situations. I believe in their power to inspire and in case you are doubting that I have a quote for every occasion, I leave you with this:

Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic.

Jack Layton

We plan to publish a new post every Monday, so stay tuned for our next one entitled “Destination Unknown.”