Sarah's favorite holiday

I'm almost 100% sure Sarah doesn't just love Christmas because of the gifts. (Believe me, she opens them all before Xmas anyway, so I don't know what she really likes about 25DEC anyway). She really loves Christmas because of being around her family - or family members, and being able to spend time with them. It made me start to think of several things:

1) I met a kid recently that just met his grandparents for the time, his mom died when he was a toddler and his dad was shot and killed a month ago. He actually met his grandparents at his dad's funeral - astranged family, kid hardly knew his father. This kid basically raised himself on the street, going without eating for days, stealing, etc. He's actually in college now after a rough life and is hopefully on a path for success. He just met his grandparents! (I'll come back to the point after topic #2)

2) I have always had a special place in my heart for Michael J. Musiol Jr or "Mikey" for short. He was the first grandchild of my parents and my sister's in-laws and was my oldest sister's first of 4. I remember Leigh Ann showing my parents and I the pregnancy test in Fayetteville, NC over the summer at a bar-b-que joint if I remember correctly. By Christmas, some of LA's tests had come back with abnormal results. Over the next 3 months before Mikey was full-term, LA and Mike found out that Mikey had a heart problem where his left ventricle was about 5 times the size of the other valves in his heart. Between trips to Bethesda, MD and Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, PA, LA had a doctor that gave her the option of aborting her baby. The doctor told her there was no chance Mikey would survive. On March 13 1996, LA had a C section and they immediately took Mikey in to operate. I think it was 8-10 hours in the operating room, he survived a couple days on his own, then died 15 days later. There are a couple of images that will stick in my mind forever. A baby in a basonette covered in so many wires, tubes, and gauze that only his hands, feet and the top of his head were uncovered. Mike and LA sitting beside the basonette talking to Mikey, rubbing his hands and feet. At the funeral, a casket that was much too small to see. Mike at the funeral, broken down, beaten down, in a pool of tears.

Mikey didn't survive, just like most doctors said he wouldn't. He never had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas. He only had the opportunity to live for 15 days and impact my life (as I am sure he did many others). I cannot imagine not knowing my parents or grandparents, because how would I have celebrated Christmas then? I hope all of you realize how precious life is, how tomorrow is never guarenteed no matter how much exercise you do or vitamins you take. Time to spend with those you love is the best time in the world. Make sure you make the most of it this Holiday Season!

By Bobby