Was that a different girl?

We are approaching one year since we took our trip to Denver. It has been eight months since Lila has been admitted to the hospital. In that time she has had one ER visit and a handful of doctors visits. She has had some rough nights and plenty of breathing treatments. But each month, each week, each day takes us further and further from the child who fought to breathe, woke screaming with nightmares and the mother who was so afraid, so helpless, so exhausted. It feels like a different life, like a nightmare I once had from which I have now awakened. Maybe I hug her a bit tighter some days, maybe I watch her run and swim, marveling at how far she has come, but mostly, honestly I don't think of it.

Lila is a normal kid. She is so rascally. Just last week I came home to find that she had cracked two dozen eggs, half the contents of my spice drawer, and all our looseleaf tea. She says she was cooking. She doesn't really remember much about hospitals and I am thankful that she doesn't have to be reminded.

Denver changed our life. It was everything we hoped. You all need to know that. Aside from the mountain of medical bills, it all seems like another family. Yet I hope that I have brought with me a sense of gratitude that will stay with me always for the community that surrounded us and for the healthy children I have. We were lucky. We were given the means to change our path, to heal our child. She still has asthma but it is so much better. It's like a different disease than what she struggled with before. My heart aches when I think of who we were last year. Thank you for supporting us. Blessings to all of you.