Sunday, August 16, 2015

AN ANGEL IN OUR MIDST

Throughout Gracie's life, there has never been a single doubt that whenever she has been present something quite extraordinary and beautiful has taken place.  Whether with a stranger or friend, young or old, lives change, messages are whispered, and the fine art of living in the moment becomes a special occasion of inexplicable importance.

Gracie for over eleven years, without provocation or vision, has provided answers to pain, suffering, fear, anger, angst, loss, celebration and jubilation.  She has been an angel, a prayer that walks into difficult and sometimes unfathomable and deeply painful situations, providing answers to endless questions, for what have seemed to be no explanation.  Twenty seconds with Gracie is sometimes all she needs to find that breakthrough.  In that moment and place in time nothing else seems to matter.  She mystically exposes an opportunity and provides an opening for suffering to exit and for light and laughter and even an unexpected clarity and peace to enter.  She is and has her entire life been a gift to hundreds and hundreds of individuals, who have needed her more than they could have ever imagined.

I have no answers as to why.  I only know that when a little boy, the son of a wounded warrior, gazed into Gracie's sightless eyes for what seemed like forever and then looked up at me in wonder and said, "Look she has snowflakes in her eyes," my perception of life assumed a different meaning.  

There sometimes are no easy answers as to why we are on this earth and what our sacred mission is.  I have been blessed, as I know what my mission is as I have held Gracie's leash and watched the miraculous and the inexplicable occur.  Gracie has been in the right place at the right time for those who have needed her the most.

On the eve of her 12th birthday, I reflect back over our lives together and all of the miraculous moments I have been blessed to witness and be a part of.  This year I have seen her through the removal of her remaining eye and two critical spinal surgeries.  She still marches on, although a bit wobbly, and teaches me that each single moment on this earth has been and is a tremendous gift and blessing to be faced with joy.

What I previously deemed as having extraordinary importance has taken a back seat to simply being with Gracie and exploring the inexplicable, the beautiful, the mysterious, and watching moments of grace unfold.

Unpredictable tales of love surround her, as I page through hundreds of photographs that provide a visual narrative. Memories surface and her stores beg to be told.  For within these snapshots, questions are answered and the 'why' and the 'how' hold no meaning. That they happened is sufficient.



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