Courage All Around

Lately, it seems like everywhere I look, stories of courage keep popping up around me. One month ago, Katie and Jessica could not be in the pool without us holding them tightly. Now, they jump off the side, submerge themselves underwater and swim to the steps or the side of the pool. Katie spends more time under water than above it. As we watched them graduate from Starfish class and immerse themselves in Seahorse swim class, I saw real courage as they made the choice to let go and submerge themselves underneath the cool water. I watched as they let go of their teacher and made their way toward safety, in water over their heads, all alone. I've watched as my Grandmother, at the advanced age of 89, left her home that she's had since the 1950's and enter an Assisted Living Facility. She went from a three bedroom home to a one bedroom apartment. A woman who cooked for a living and for a family of 6 her whole life, now does not have a stove. She knew not a soul in the place. But she faced this transition bravely, has made a gaggle of friends and is loving her life. Her only regret, she tells us, is that she didn't move there sooner. My sister in law had a new baby while her husband prepares to apply to Law School. My other sister in law has kept her family going in a strange town while my brother in law travels for the Air Force. My brother in law broke up with a girl he really liked because it just wasn't the right girl for him and he knew it. The girls' preschool teacher danced in our local Struass Festival in a festooned candy pink ballgown, in front of hundreds of people from all over the state. My mother in law held the hand of her baby sister as she ended her courageous battle against cancer. All of these acts of courage might normally get chalked up to life experiences. But in them, I see courage that brings me to tears.

So when I became aware of the most tremendous act of courage I have heard of ever, I had to write about it. Many of you might have already heard this story so hang in there with me while I give a brief recap. Arizona couple, Christian and Stephanie Nielsen were in a private plane crash one year ago. Stephanie is the author of the Nie Nie Dialogues, a mommy blog, that chronicled her life of raising her four children and loving being a wife and a mother. Her blog was filled with love letters to her husband and depicted family celebrations for birthdays and special achievements, fashion shows of back to school clothes, bike rides and New Years Eve parties. She encouraged the wearing of red lipstick and the enjoyment of simple things like glitter, high heels and the letting go of helium balloons with messages attached to the strings. They were vegetarians, beautiful and the epitome of health. Stephanie gave her husband flying lessons for his birthday. They crashed in a small plane with their flight instructor. The flight instructor died. Christian was burned on something like 30% of his body. Stephanie was burned on over 80% of her body. She should not have survived and was in a coma for months. There are a million stories of courage I could share with you about this amazing family. Stephanie's sister has the most amazing blog called cjane enjoy it. Both her blog and Stephanie's are linked on the right side of this blog. Trust me, once you go there, you'll never come back here. cjane is a true essayist. Her blog is a treasure of beautiful prose, hilarious stories, fashion and coolness. Stephanie has kept up her blog since she awoke from her coma, sharing her new reality with her readers in an open manner that will make you weep. So as you can imagine, there are many stories of courage, love and heroism. However, this past Saturday, a story emerged that has made me weep with sorrow, joy and awe since I read about it.

Stephanie grew up in Provo, Utah. In Provo, there is a big white stone letter "Y" up on the side of a mountain on the East side of town. (The "Y" is for the local college BYU) You can't live in Provo without hiking to the Y at least once. I lived there for 18 months and I hiked there exactly that many times, once. You have two choices when hiking to the Y. You can hike up a series of switchbacks on the trail, or you can just head straight on up. Straight up is much harder but shorter, the switchbacks being easier but taking much longer. I always thought the people who chose the switchbacks were dumb. Why drag out the pain? Just hype yourself up and go for it. Then I tried the straight up route. I quickly found myself on a switchback trail, with an ache in my side and a new understanding of the value in slow and steady progress. Anyway, back to Stephanie. Growing up, she hiked to the Y daily with her dogs. It was her special place. After waking up from her coma, being transferred to the burn unit in Utah, finally being released from the hospital etc etc, she went to visit her beloved trail. She made it to the trail head before she had to turn back. She set a personal goal to hike to the Y by the one year anniversary of the crash. In addition to working toward this goal, she has been trying to work up the courage to post a picture of herself on her blog. On Saturday, she did both. Let me tell you, once you spend some time reading about this family, you will understand the miracle in these two achievements. I will not post a picture of Stephanie here because I think she should be able to do that on her terms and I feel it's sort of invasive. But let me say here and now that her demonstrations of bravery have changed the way I walk in the world.

If you are lacking inspiration or you feel like your problems are insurmountable, take some time to read Stephanie's story. I recommend starting with the time before the crash. Then, switch to cjane for updates after the crash and a story of heroism all it's own. Finally, go back to Stephanie when she starts writing again. You won't be sorry. Instead of going and buying a new book, read these instead. They are free and are so much better than any book you could buy. Have your Kleenex ready.