Lean on Me

The past year has been quite a journey starting with Ricky's egg allergy diagnosis and continuing today with yet another round of antibiotics to treat his sinus infection. Rick and I have been up and down and all around during these changes. It has changed each of us, our relationship and how we parent our children. At times it has been a very lonely spot as the Mom of pid kid. No one understands quite what it is about and most people wonder why your kid is sick all the time. But there are angels and true friends that have been there even for just a quick moment.

I guess I thought of this post b/c I ran into someone today who asked me about all my facebook statuses where my kids were sick. I explained about their immune deficiencies and what is going on. "What do you do? How do you do it?" she asked. My answer without much thought, "A lot of prayers, strong faith, patience and good friends." And that is pretty much as true as it gets in my life. I am so grateful for the people who love us and support us, even when they don't understand. It is nice to know that whatever craziness pid brings, we have people who are there to help. It has been a life-saver to just get a message from a friend asking how the kids and more importantly, I am doing.

It is times like these where you realize who your true friends are and what friendship really means. So many people who were in our lives a year ago have drifted off and the relationship fizzled. They got bored, tired of hearing about sickness or just felt it was drama. Some didn't have the time to invest or the listen. And there were a few, family and friends, who felt it was overblown or not that important. To be fair and honest, I have made some assumptions but for some I have it right on the nose.

Those are the negatives and some have left my heart a bit broken. On the flip side, the positives have saved my sanity and soothed my fears. They have helped me to keep walking and given me the strength to be strong for the kids when all I wanted to do was fall apart. It is the friend who calls to check in, the person who sends an email to remind me she is praying, the family member/friends who are so careful and conscience of all our medical ins and outs. It is the friend who always makes something special for my egg allergic Little Man or the aunt who asks what he can or cannot have before offering anything. It is the girlfriends who go to dinner with me or the ladies I have met in my online group. All of these people do so much to soothe the exhaustion and offer hope.

I don't say it often or enough but I love each and everyone of them. Even the people who are acquaintances or new pals. There is a special place in my heart for anyone who has shown kindness, love or support. Without you we would not be doing as well today as we are and our journey would have been much rougher along the way.