Sunday, August 16, 2009

Me and Her

A year ago , we had been in Arizona for a little over a month. Well, exactly a month. In that short amount of time, we had found out that the guy that we had bought "our future" from had lied about our investment and we had no choice but to enter into a large legal battle with him to get our investment (or a small part of it) back.

We had moved away from family, friends, and made a big sacrifice to be "on our own" and "doing our own thing." We had calculated and prayed before we signed on all the lines but, it wasn't enough. Sometimes you just can't control what OTHER people are doing. Like, forging documents.

I was pregnant. Newly pregnant and frustrated. Frustrated that I was pregnant. I mean, the timing was not great. The economy was going into a major recession. Our "new business" was floundering. We were in a law suit with the man who mis-lead us and it looked like we were going to have to completely re-invent the wheel. Peter was going to have to find work and it was unclear if we would ever recover our losses. Not the greatest time to be pregnant . . for emotional reasons. Losing all of your financial stability is a lot to take on as a general stress level when you are newly pregnant.

I struggled daily with our new position. For the most part, our hopes were high. We hoped things would work out. We felt like we were here for a "reason", even though that "reason" was completely unclear. It was a Sunday night, and I was laying on my couch reading blogs. I was reading Cjane. Which is a blog that I came across after asking a few people about their favorite blogs to read. It quickly became a favorite, but that night, a year ago today, I was reading her blog in complete and total shock. An extreme accident had happened. I clicked over to the accident victim's blog, her sister, Nie Nie. I read, and I read, and I read. I had never read her blog before. But I sat and read for probably 3 or more hours (it was after the kids had gone to bed) and suddenly, I realized that my problems were very, very, very small.

Over the next year, I followed Stephanie's progress, as many of you did and I watched in awe as she recovered, came back to life and even started blogging again! When Peter and I would come up to hurdles in our law suit, or in finding work, being a completely sleep deprived mother of a new born who was packing up her boxes for her 9th move in 9 years or in having the same guy STOP making his settlement payments to us, I would think of her and I would try to remember that there were others out there who suffered more than we did.

Today, Nie Nie showed the WORLD just how brave she really is, and it is far, far, far more brave than I ever have been, or maybe ever would be. You can see why HERE.

I am sure she will never read this blog, but I just would like to thank her personally. Thank you for being so strong. Thank you for being a wonderful example of hope. Thank you for enduring happily, or as happily as you can. Thank you for showing us all what it means to be strong. Thank you. I hope to be more like you.

Lindsey

9 comments:

Sarah said...

Okay, I am totally laughing out loud because the ad underneath your post is for Trojan Ecstasy condoms. They're even offering free samples!

Okay, back to your post. I'm so glad you posted something about her blog today. When I saw her face, I couldn't believe how beautiful she looked. She really is beautiful to me in her present condition. I expected something so different. And her gaze into her husband's eyes was so inspiring.

Thank you for your blog. You are so very real and have such a great way with words. You are loved by so many.

Leah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JBelle said...

Finally, My Love, this:

THIS IS THE TRUTH: you will never be free until you love, or try to love, every person you meet; and try to forgive every person that hurt you. Until that happens, you will never be free."
~Father Joe Small, SJ

x*, today as always

Anne said...

I love her too. and I don't mean that in a trite way...I mean it deeply. She has changed me. I was amazed to see that one so clearly disfigured could be so stunning. Beautiful. And she still has a spark in her eyes!

Jessica said...

I've been so wanting people to post about this. I could not stop thinking about her all day yesterday. Isn't she just the bravest person ever ?

Melissa-Mc said...

She is an amazing person. And so are you!

Tina said...

First I wanted to say thanks to you for also being strong and enduring happily. I think we forget sometimes that our own battles and how we face them are a strength to others and yours have certainly been that for me.
Second I wanted to agree whole-heartedly with you about Nie. She is beautiful both inside and out. She truly has changed my perspective on many things, and made me try a little harder to be a little better...as better said by our Beloved President Hinckley.
You are amazing all on your own. I have to keep reminding myself that things can only get better. Struggles are our refiners fire....and we sure need that refining to be worthy of our Savior's presence again one day. I have many roller coaster days, mostly on the down slope I must admit, but still I feel His tender mercies as I read of others hurts and blessings through blogging, yours being one of those blogs. Thanks for what you do for me.

cher said...

Hey... I just read this post. Obviously I've kind of been on the same wavelength. = ) You said everything beautifully, and I wholeheartedly agree.

Jeanelle said...

Catching up...thank you for posting this! My feelings are very similar. This was such a nice tribute...

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