A River Ride it might have been; Let's call him Huck "Fabu-Lance" Finn

     Tonight's blog will be light as a summer breeze, not filled with fearful stories or lines that will make you cry.  Perhaps the moms, step-moms, and grandmas will tighten up a bit as they read - but when told in the past tense, stories don't seem so scary.  Tonight I can report that Lance has downsized his trach AND it is capped off.  This is the next step in series toward removal of the trach tube.  ( Much has been in the news the past week about tracheotomies, brain injuries, and the medical care that is being given to Cong. Giffords.  I pray she can recover form this horrific attack.  I can also report that Shannon Gilbert was transferred to Cardinal Hill in Lexington where she will begin rehab therapy. We celebrate this step with the Gilberts. )
     The most significant part is that the tube is capped off.  The cap can easily be removed if needed should food become lodged in throat, but unless it is removed, Lance breathes all his air through his nose and mouth.  The respiratory therapists and pulmonologist are pleased tonight as his oxygen saturation is staying at 98-100%.  Today as I sat in his room in the quietness and listened to him breathe, I remembered middle of night experiences all parents have.  I thought back to when Chelcee, Brock, and Lance were infants......quietly looking in on them in a dark room, holding my breath as I listened for theirs.   This event today went well for Lance; his repeated breaths were like a cadence of beautiful music to my ears.  (More on breath at end of this entry)
     Also Lance ate  real food for breakfast - yes it was yogurt, applesauce, and pureed eggs chased with orange juice and milk.  It was the closest thing to a real meal he has had since the Sunday after Thanksgiving when were still hitting the leftovers with vengeance.  I kiddingly said to the nurse that Jesus fasted 40 days and nights while Lance's fast lasted 52 days.  She mumbled that Jesus fasted willingly; not everybody digs my humor.  So Lance has had a good day - blessed be the name of the Lord.
     Now let's tell our Huck Finn story which happened about 3 summers ago behind our house in the Ohio River.  Lance and I had spotted a dock that had ended up on the river bank after the river  had receded quickly.  It had been nestled in a clump of brush and trees up river from our property for several weeks.  We had discussed reclaiming it but knew it would require much manpower to wrestle it from its resting place and move it to a useable location - behind our house.   Our moment came when, after several days of heavy rain, the river level was quickly rising.  I looked off our deck and thought I saw the dock bobbing.  I got Lance and we hurried over the riverbank to check out our coveted prize.  Sure enough the water level was just high enough that we felt we could dislodge the dock.  Sometimes boys (and even men) evaluate challenges with Alfalfa-and-Spanky-like mentality...this may have been one of those times when the excitement of conquest overrode all common sense.   I did postpone the mission for a few minutes to go up to garage and get a life jacket (and a camera); then with a facade safety measure mandated that my reluctant son strap it on before the mission began.  He was not reluctant in the manner that Isaac may have been with Abraham; Lance just didn't see why we should mess up a good photo-op.
     After the life jacket was in place, on Lance, I got cold feet.  What would the neigbors say?   What would Gena say?  How would I explain if something bad happened?  I continued asking these questions as we are now in waist deep water rocking the dock and getting it untangled.  It started to move and.....in just a few moments it was out in swift water and picking up speed away from the bushes as Lance used his arms to lift himself up on the the dock which had now become a river borne raft.
     I ran along the water's edge, took a couple of pictures, and wondered how he could ever steer it to the shore with the oar we had taken with us on this poorly planned fiasco.  If he could not turn it toward shore line, would he jump into the muddy, swift water or would  he ride the raft, Huck style, on to western destinations such as Vanceburg, Concord, Sand Hill, Maysville?
     I can add no more drama. He, Fabu-Lance did it!  I'm not sure how because the physics and the water dynamics do not make sense.  But somehow he maneuvered the pirated vessel back into shore; he jumped off in the water and we together pulled it to the water's edge.  Why did we take such risk?  We never really analyzed it, which is odd because we tended to overanalyze everything.  Lance may have said "Why?  Why not?  It is the American way to ask why.  It is the heart of the explorer to tackle the unknown, to try the untried."  That is enough speculation.  It just shows Lance's adventurous nature (and my foolhardy nature).  The nickname Fabu-Lance was dubbed by some of Brock's friends during high school, who thought Lance could do no wrong.  The confessors, Alison and Jordan, recently admitted this story in an email; it is not a Wiki-leak.
    ****Breath notes: Sandy Bertram teaches yoga; Gena and I attend her classes and Lance had attended a few with us.  In yoga, the breath is your focus.  Many people are surprised to hear this as they believe yoga is all about strength and flexibility or some may think it  is about being in a hot room wearing tight clothes.  Yoga is good for the body and the mind...but the entire practice(as the yoga experience is called) has a rhythm that coincides with the rise and the fall of the breath.  The cultures that practice yoga are probably on to something in that the older members are the most flexible.  Contrast that to most modern cultures where along with the decades of life we can expect stiffness of joints and muscles.
     The Greek and Hebrew words interpreted as breath or wind in the Bible also mean Spirit.  The spirit of God is life.  Some look at our existence as one which will last until we die - period.  I see my existence as eternal.....my soul is eternal and my natural life is just a small piece of that time line which will never end.  Each breath is precious, each one is a gift from God - a gift I will never again take for granted.  The combined breaths we have make up our life, something else which is a precious gift from God; our life is much more fragile than I used to think.  Let's use each day, let us use each breath to let God live through us and in us.  We have a fabulous God  and he wants you to have a fabu-life.

-John