"Nena Did It"

Dear Tattered Angel,


As your strength and agility improve you have returned to the little hurricane you once were.  Scattered toys, scribbled pictures, and broken crayons are all traces that you are still here and doing well.  If left for only a moment you find yourself drawn to anything and everything we as parents have scolded you not to do.  Before I was aware that you had regained so much mobility, I found my self upset and scolding your brother, who was the only one downstairs, for a pile of videos carelessly thrown in a corner close to where he was playing.  Only a few phrases left my lips before I was interrupted by the small immobile child in the corner bravely confessing "Nena did it"

When we found out about the Surgery,
We went swimming before the cast.

Before your surgery you loved to color in your coloring books, on paper you found laying around, and sometimes if left alone long enough the leather furniture and hallway walls.  Around the house there are small reminders of the mobile child you use to be.  It wasn't to long ago, when grandma and grandpa had come to visit that I was exhibiting some of your art around the gallery in the house.  One particular painting is located at the bottom of the stairs about knee high.  My mother smiled as she reminded me of a time when a small boy and his friend painted the kitchen with a jumbo container of peanut butter.  As the discussion continued, I tried to convey that none of our other children ever painted on the walls.  Our little angel from across the room loudly proclaimed, "Hey, I was coloring"

I imagine if you stand back and examine our lives you will find the trials that canvas our past are like this painting on the wall located at the bottom of the stairs.  What appears up close to us to be a black mark in our history filled with sorrow and pain is in reality if you step back to look at the whole picture, part of a beautiful tapestry being woven by the master's hands.