Five Minute Friday...Story, or as Paul Harvey would say, "the rest of the story..."

It's that time again...time to link up with Lisa-Jo Baker and all the other wonderful writers for Five Minute Friday.  I will say...this post was a heart squeezer for me. And I do admit that it did take more than five minutes...but I'm linking up anyway!

The word for today is...
Story...

Sometimes you meet many people along the journey of your life and wonder...

What's their story?

Like the little boy who shared a room with my son in Lifeline Children's Hospital in Indianapolis. It was a specialty rehab hospital for mostly brain injured children.  My son, Brad, was going through rehabilitation after suffering a stroke at age 13...so young. Too young.

But sitting across the room was a much younger boy. So small that the bed seemed to envelop his little body as he lay there...listless. His story? I only know a small part. He was on his bicycle one day. As he rode out into the street, he was hit by a car passing by. One day...playing outside as carefree as children can be...the next, laying in a hospital bed, in a coma. He suffered a brain injury and laid in a coma for weeks before finally awakening and transferring to the rehab hospital. I watched as his parents and relatives would come and go as their work schedules would allow.  I watched as this young boy who could not talk seemed to somehow connect with my son. I saw him improve enough to go home...but he had so much healing and who knows how far his recovery took him.  DeAndre' would be a young man now.  I wonder...what became of him?

There was also a little girl at the rehab hospital. Her family rarely came to visit. I wondered why? What was their story? I knew that nothing could keep me from being there with my son in that hospital. I was with him 24/7...only leaving occasionally when my husband was able to take time away from work to be with Brad. I did finally realize that for some parents, staying with their children was not an option. Sometimes it was a single mom, working full-time...without the job she would lose the insurance that paid for her child's medical care.  When I realized there were actually reasonable explanations for a parent not staying with their child, I was able to extend grace and love to those families.

At first I thought this little girl couldn't talk; she too had a brain injury.  The nurses would sit her in the hallway in front of the nurses station to keep an eye on her. This precious little girl, Olivia, would just squeal and 'talk' in unintelligible sentences loudly. Sometimes, when Brad was in speech therapy, or one of his other therapies I would go to her and read to her.  She would try and throw her little body over into my lap. Oh how I longed to take her in my arms and snuggle with her as I read book after book to her. I once asked the nurses if I could hold her but they said I could not without her parent's permission. I almost cried as I heard the nurses words. No Olivia...I cannot hold you.

I spent so much time with little Olivia, that one day  I realized that I could actually understand what she was saying to me.

She was a precious little one.   I only saw her mom once the entire time she was there and that was when they came to take Olivia home. That day was a hard one for me. I was happy that little Olivia was going home, but a piece of my heart went with her. I would not know, as Paul Harvey says, "the rest of the story" of this precious child's life.

So many lives, so many stories. As you can imagine, with the time we have spent in hospitals and rehabilitation centers with Brad through his two traumatic brain events, we have encountered so many whom we have had to prayerfully place into the Father's care...

never to know...

the rest of THEIR story...

How about you?  We all have a story...as we walk this earth we are leaving footprints for others to see...to follow. Where have yours led?  Where will  yours lead??

What's your story?

If you are interested in reading more of my story with our son's disability, you might want to check out this article...Open the eyes of my heart, my prayer in the midst of writers block

Now it's your turn...

1. Write for 5 minutes flat - no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

2. Link back here and invite others to join in.
3. And then absolutely, no ifs, ands or buts about it, you need to visit the person who linked up before you &encourage them in their comments. 

Seriously. That is, like, the rule. And the fun. And the heart of this community...