The Scar: Two Years Later

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As I picked him up and lay him down to change him, he was in that half-awake, calm and cuddly state.

I pulled his onesie over his head, and I saw it, probably for the hundredth time. That scar that runs down his chest, right over his heart.

And I realised that today, seven months after it’s owner, that scar turned two years old.

Two years ago today, a doctor opened his chest, and fixed that little fighter of a heart, holes patched, good as new, and sewed him up again. And now all he has to remember it by is the white line, long since healed, but still visible.

As I set him on his feet and watched him run about, I was awestruck. Grateful, that God gave him this chance, grateful that I had the chance to know him. So incredibly grateful for the amazing people God had lined up to care for him back then. Few of the kids in the hogar have been quite as spoilt as him. And as I thought about this surgery that undoubtedly saved his life, and as I watched him running around in front of me, causing all manner of trouble - I thought of all he can do now, all those things he has the chance to do.

He runs now, far beyond walking.
He jumps around.
He climbs too, like Spiderman, it’s exhausting.
He’s trying to talk, he wants to communicate.
Clearly has a lot to say.
He definitely has the word ‘no’ quite securely.
He feeds himself, when he wants to.
He splashes in his soup when he doesn't.
He has his own, wonderful personality.
He has preferences, and is quick to make them known.
He is the most outrageously stubborn little thing I have ever met.
He is learning, even when we thought he wouldn’t. Thought he couldn’t.
He’s a lover. He’s quick with kisses and hugs, with sticky fingers in yours.
He is pure empathy. He adores the little babies, and wakes up to check they’re okay.
He’s a fighter. But he’s always had to be.
He's one hundred other things. Good things, and bad.
He's a real, live, little boy.
And with him, that can't be taken for granted. It wasn't always a given.

While his heart problems have faded, there are others that have appeared. He has more fights ahead of him. But we know now that he is capable.

And as I hold him (after a one hour fight to get him to apologise to the child whose head he sat on) I remember once more how lucky I am.

How lucky we all are, to still have him in this world.


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