A RIVER OF LOVE
The other evening I went to the river…or rather…a river came to me..
and I was immediately taken aback by all the love there was to see.
River was in a wheelchair…brought into the store by River’s father and his wife…
I learned how River drowned in his bathtub when he was a baby
and how the doctors brought him back to life.
There was no hope for River…the doctors wanted his father to know…
but something stirred in his father’s heart…and he would not let River go.
River is now six years old and despite the obvious damage to his brain…
The love I saw in his father’s eyes spoke not of what they lost…
but what they both have gained.
As I watched Dad interact with River…his beautiful little boy…
the air I was breathing in the store seemed filled with laughter, love and joy.
And I thought how River is an appropriate name
because when that wall of heartbreak…took their initial dream…and drowned it…
like a river they didn’t let it stop them…they carved a path around it.
And through their determination, their courage, their love…
they somehow found the knack…
like a river to keep on moving forward…while never looking back.
A dream is like a river…it can sink into the depths no matter how hard we chase it…
but if we’re lucky…another dream rises from the water to replace it.
Here is where I have to mention Daisy…
their beautiful four month old daughter..who it seems…
after six years on the river…has now been added to their dreams.
As they left the store I thought…
wherever their river chooses to flow…
how on the bank of a river that flows with love…
the most beautiful flowers can grow.
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