Medina's Return

After all of the counting down, all of the hard work put into the plans to impress, all of the days spent separately working hard building a life that can stand a chance as a future together, both Juliana and Chris got the reunion they had been working for. 

Thirty-nine days after he walked out of the hospital teary-eyed, nervous, and unsure of his decision to leave, Chris walked back in the door cloaked in just as much emotion. As he came in the house, Juliana and I were just exiting the bathroom so he got the chance to see her standing, walking and steadying herself ready to hug him with all her fragile might. She had waited all day, growing more and more impatient as I grew nervous seeing the clock tick towards bewitching hour. I wanted Chris to see Juliana at her best and the later it got, the more I knew it was a toss up. But once she saw him standing there and he saw her walking with trembling grace, any of my anxiety evaporated. He reached out to accept her approach and, just as I had done figuratively many years before, when he secured her in his embrace, I gradually let her go. I tried to melt into the background while I observed the scene unfold just like when I hid, peeking out of the bathroom during his proposal at Starbucks. 

I want so badly to experience everything that my kids go through, but try not to overshadow the moments that belong only to them. I don’t always succeed, I do tend to get over-involved but hope they will forgive my intrusion and memorialize me through snarky clichés someday. But last night as Chris hugged and kissed her and spoke to her gently, he wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes. And from my place in the shadows I saw him slip her ring back on finger. He always takes it with him when he goes to perform for luck and the symbolic return is a ritual they have come to rely upon. Although in the grand calendar of lives this 39 days was just a blip on the screen, it was exponentially longer when counted in the changes that had occurred for both of them. I knew how much this "big reveal" meant to her and she was so eager to make him proud of her progress. She had her hair done the day before and wanted to be dressed in new clothes he hadn’t yet seen.  She requested makeup and jewelry and promised to put her best foot forward.  The result was a happy young lady in love with her fiancé. 

Chris evaluated every inch of her and ever the loving boyfriend said all the right things: “Juliana, your hair looks so beautiful.” And “Have you lost weight?”  And “I think your pump bump is cute.” He praised her for her walking, her interaction with him and others and much her posture and balance had improved. She complimented his haircut and told him she loved him. They have never spent that much time away from each other but it was a well-planned investment for both of them. After Juliana was out of earshot, Chris the perfectionist gave me his real report: Although he was happy she was walking with some skill, he was concerned that now her left foot was turning out instead of in. He also pointed out what was becoming more of an issue all the time: Her right knee hyper-extends to compensate for the lack of positive positioning of her right foot. We knew there was potential damage to her knee if we didn’t correct the right foot soon so that surgery was future certainty. He was happy to see her feed herself so effectively and noticed that her right eye is now half-open. (Much like the days when her tremors subsided, I didn’t report this advancement to you because I wanted to be sure it was really happening.  So far, so good but you didn’t hear it from me). 

Today was her follow-up to see the doctor who did her tendon release and we didn’t hesitate to schedule the same surgery on her right ankle. She was so excited when the doctor told her she didn’t have to wear the walking boot 22 hours a day anymore that she overlooked the fact that we were going down that same path with the other foot. She let out a loud laugh and gifted him with her megawatt smile, as she is prone to do now and told him he was her favorite doctor.  I asked him about her foot turning outward and he showed me her knee aligning with her foot to assure me that the position was perfectly fine.  So, October 19 Juliana will get her right Achilles tendon released to complete the set. At least she will get matching heal scars.  It’s so nice to actually have a healing process when not too long ago we felt we were running out of options any more attractive than "wait and see." As we approach the two-year anniversary of Juliana’s accident we will give you a glimpse of who she is today and the progress she has made.

When I think back to this time two years ago, just days before her accident and the last-minute bridal shower preparations, it seems like a time in someone else’s life.  I still have her wedding dress hanging on my bedroom door and she asks to try it on every once in a while, although I have yet to let her do it. So much has changed in the last two years and that change has been accelerated in the last 39 days and we are all slightly different people. Chris is eager to take Juli to Norway and introduce her to the life and the people who have embraced them both so eagerly and she is finally looking forward to that possibility.  She continues to "mature," so her humor is varied and her conversation is lilted with wit and whimsy. We are able to call her attention to behaviors that might not be socially acceptable and she actually cares to correct it. They are both propelling into people they didn’t think they would be, after living through a storm they never wanted to enter and emerging people better than they knew possible. I am excited now to see the fire of the future in both of their eyes even though neither of them understands exactly what the future will bring. Life has taught us all to dream a different dream and along the way, somehow we have been able to do it.