Chapter 40: Acceptance does not come easily.

It took ten years to accept what took one second to happen.

The sky was Hawaiian blue, not a cloud in the sky, the trade winds blowing a sweet kiss, the lucky island home of happy people, it was another day in paradise. What happened in one second took Ev right around ten years to accept.

It may have been the first two years, perhaps three, she would move a finger, the baby finger of her left hand. It took tremendous concentration, but it moved. The road to recovery was right before her, if the finger moved the body would follow.

The doctors in charge of her case said she should not be able to feel anything below her neck. Remarkably, she claimed she did. She worked and worked, after four years she was able to move her right shoulder. In a tremendous show of will she could move a limp, dangling right hand to control a motorized wheel chair. She was very proud to be able to move herself around the facility. She had a route, she would look up people to talk to or go for a smoke.

When she saw someone come into care that had less fortune than herself, she would say a prayer for them and count herself lucky. She was always grateful for the least level of capability. I can move my arm she thought, I can see, hear, think, but she would never be  brave enough to say, I want to walk.

She was not a boastful person, proud, yes, stubborn absolutely, fickle at times, but always kind hearted and happy for what blessings she held. She still believed in the grace of a kind God. The God of her father. The God of her husband, Jack. As time went on she started to question her faith. As Billy Graham had said on many occasions, Christians do come to face cross roads of faith in their lives. She was tested every single minute, of every single hour, of every single day, week, month, year. She used to say she had recreated memories, thought fondly of them and then she would repeat the process. It reminded me of how prisoners of war built castles in their thoughts and then deconstructed the same castle, brick by brick, nail, by nail.

Ev had time to think deep thoughts.