As the days tick by and the calendar pages flip. Max will be 5 soon, we are now 4 years removed from that fateful September. The September in ways feels so distant but the scars still as fresh as that first day. I still look at the MRI regularly. I look at the same picture I was shown. Somedays my eyes fill with tears, and others I find myself reflecting on the uncharted path.

Lately I’ve found myself watching my son growing older. The things he likes have been changing, the way he wants to spend time with me has been changing. It’s not that I’m surprised of such changes, but when you are faced with conditions and ailments that mask some of the changes in front of you it’s easy to miss the subtle things. As he has continued to find his voice both audible and communicating through his own signs he continues to exceed everything they said he would do.

4 years have passed, years filled with the support of amazing people in our families lives. Amazing people in my personal life, I could never repay all of the people that have been there for me in one way or another. In fact it would be impossible to even know where to begin, but I will never forget. People still ask, they wonder about how Max is doing. I cherish those individuals who are still by my side.

Max continues to grow, and in many ways so do I. I grow in the ways I view the years, in how I view the journey. The scars on my heart and on my soul have not changed, but I embrace the scars and I look optimistically toward the change and journey ahead.

Sb