Colleen still hasn't woken up from the surgery, so today they each took turns sitting with her in the ICU. Rusty told me over SKYPE this morning one of the songs he sang to her today was, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always..." He said he had a hard time getting through the song because of all the memories attached to it combined with the reality of life at the moment.
Tears rolled down my face because this is the very song we sang over and over to little Olive after her brain surgery just 19 months ago.
Never did we think that in only a few more months he would be singing this song to his own mother after her own brain surgery.
If you didn't grow up with this book, it starts when a son has just been born. His mother sneaks in his room after he falls asleep every night, and sings the same song to him from the time he was a little baby through all of his rambunctious and rebellious teenage years. Even after he is an adult and moved across town, she would still occasionally drive to his house with a ladder and sing to him (I realize that may sound a bit crazy, but it's real sweet in the book).
She sings, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be."Later, the role is reversed and he holds his elderly mother and sings the same words back to her,
"I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my mother you'll be."
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4 comments:
What a wonderful story! Prayers continue for Rusty and the family...and special prayers for you as you try to stay connected with them from so far away. Skype is such a wonderful tool. I pray it helps to connect your minds and hearts and helps you feel as close by as an angel's whisper.
Oh Lynette, the picture of Rusty so alone looking out into the ocean says a million words. "I will love you forever" brings back lots of memories and I am so grateful that it could be sung to Olive and now to Colleen. I still remember when this song was introduced at a Children's Author Conference by the author and she sang the song, just as you sing it today. Love comes around. Mother loves and nurtures child and child loves and nurtures mother. This was such a touching post. I will love you forever daughter of mine. Your strength comes from the Lord today. "Dear Jesus, as Colleen continues to sleep, bring healing to her brain. Jesus, bring peace to Rusty and wrap him up with the love his mother has for each of her children."
The memory of Colleen in Thailand , giving up her plane ticket to go back to Seattle, because she needed to be with her son as he cried on that 3 hour trip from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai. Together they had experienced the high of getting Olive's passport in one day, and then the low of finding out Olive was getting worse that same day. I was just praying for Rusty and he called me just now.
I just told Shawna the night of Colleen's surgery that I was reading this to my kids. I could barely finish it coherently thinking of Colleen's awesome kids and such a likely mommy. I love this book.
Lynette, my heart just aches as I think of all you dear Polinders. Praying for you and that sweet baby boy as you are in Thailand and the rest are here. We love you all and your are all never far from our thoughts. With love, Becky
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