Living life fully...

"He didn't get to live a full life, but he did live life fully...," said my friend today as we cried on the phone together over the unfairness of another beautiful life lost. It was the most beautiful statement that has been said to me in two days. I am in a deep state of mourning...I want a miracle, I want life to be fair...but, sadly, it isn't. 

I need to look at this from another perspective, another view to put a salve over my broken heart...I need to move away and look at the fullness of the life rather than whether it was a full life.

So many of the children who have gone to the Playground were not given the luxury of a full life, but each of them have lived life fully. Each has reached out and grasped the life ahead of them, enjoying experiences as they are placed before them Some have traveled across the country, taking in the sights, others created non-profits touching others they have met. For some of the tiniest angels, making the trip home is the greatest and most joyous journey of all. Sleeping in one's own bed, breathing the scent of their parents lying next to them, is such an amazing experience that some parents thought might never be. 

Having a son with this disease has taught me much about living...enjoying the small things, while being open to the big. Opportunities to see joy through a child's eyes, experience ones own healthy life in a new and amazing way. Through their lives, our dear sweet angels have taught us many things...I have felt love so deep that I am amazed, I have also felt joy and deep, heart breaking loss. The emotional experience is across the map. I have met "family" that I never knew existed, loved other children as if they were my own, which brings me back to the beginning...my heart in a million pieces.

Each of these children, the ones with the glittering wings and the hearts so pure, each of them leave permanent footprints in our hearts. Whether you have met them or not, these words you read, the love I share, gives them have a foothold in your heart as well and, because of them, you will live a richer and fuller life too.