Need some inspiration?

33. Make a list of 10 people I know in my life that have inspired me

When I was making my list I thought it was important for me to reflect on the steps and people that helped shape the person I am today.  I wanted these to be real people in my real life.  People who may or may not even know that they left an impression on me.  I mean, Mother Teresa was great, but I feel pretty confident that she never had to deal with how to get 3 kids to take turns on "Wii Dance Party."  I needed people that I could learn from on a much smaller, closer to home scale.


Today my temper was kind of  short with my little people.  I thought I would look for someone who has inspired me as a parent.  Someone who could make me remember how lucky I am to have them.


This is the story of my friend Kari.  She inspires me for one reason.  She gets out of bed every morning. 

Long ago, before I had kids, I had a life.  I even held some jobs.  One of these jobs I kept part-time seasonally after I had kids.  This is where I met Kari.

Kari is great- she is funny, loud, and tells it like it is.  She is a good listener, and was a good manager.  After I stopped working for I always stopped to see her when I was at the mall.  My girls were little, and they LOVED that Miss Kari would rub yummy smelling lotion on their hands.

At one such visit Kari announced to me, "Guess what I did last weekend?  I got married!"

Upon further questioning I learned that her husband was in the Army, and was about to be deployed.  I thought back to my first year of marriage, and thought about how different hers was going to be.  We finished visiting and went on our way.

Next time I saw Kari she had another bombshell to drop on me (and to be honest, I don't remember if it was at the mall or somewhere else.  Sometime after the wedding she moved on to a different job.)  Her husband had come home on leave, and guess what, she was pregnant!  And as she put it, they don't do things the easy way- she was pregnant with twins, and hubby was back overseas.

Sometime during her pregnancy I met up with her to give her the maternity clothes that I didn't (THANK GOODNESS) need anymore.  She seemed to be doing so well- and looked better pregnant with twins than I did with Jack just a year or so before.  Not fair.

As life goes, I didn't run into her for a while.  I got an email with pictures of the boys when they were born (BEAUTIFUL, and right after the holidays, what a gift!)  I also ran into her at Publix when they were infants (if you can believe it, she was alone and I didn't get to see them.)  Her husband was back home, she was so happy being a mom, and you could tell it all agreed with her.

Several months later, I got a horrifying email from a mutual friend.  I actually just found it saved in my mail box.  Here it is word for word (with exception of the location.)

Miriam,

I have some unfortunate news. One of  Kari's twins Alexander passed away due to the RSV virus. The funeral is Friday at 1:00 at XXXX Church.

What????  I read it over and over again.  I cried.  I couldn't believe that this previously HEALTHY baby had died, and just DAYS before his first birthday. 

 More details came out- both twins were sick with RSV.  They were taken to the hospital together and Xander was on life support within a day. The other twin was fighting, and expected to make a full recovery.  I got another email- a picture of the surviving twin eating his 1st birthday cake, with breathing tubes in his nose, and blue and white icing on his face. Alone. Without his brother. 

Kari and her husband made a decision that I hope I would be strong enough to make if the situation arose.  They donated Xander's kidneys, so that someone else had a chance at life. Amazing.

Kari did something else that I am not sure I would be able to do.  She kept living.  She spoke to tv stations.  She spoke on the radio.  She sent emails to everyone she knew warning them of the signs and dangers of RSV.  She and her husband had another baby.  She again got through her being pregnant while her husband was overseas defending our freedom.  She had another boy.  And she keeps going.

Kari lives with a constant reminder of the son she lost- his identical twin.  She sees every day what he could have, and SHOULD have been doing.  And she gets out of bed- and she parents and enjoys her boys, and is thankful for the time that they had with their angel Xander.  I know that it is not always sunshine and roses for her.  She misses her son.  She hurts.  This year she had a balloon sendoff to heaven for her little boy's birthday.  She deals the best way she knows how.  She teaches me to love, cherish and enjoy my kids.

And I think it is AMAZING that she gets out of bed in the morning.

In Kari's honor here is her reminder:

Please, if you could take the time, tell all your friends and family with young kids (or a pregnant mama) about RSV. It has been considered an epidemic in Georgia since the third week of October. Sadly, not a thing has been reported about it on the news. So, it is up to us, my friends, to save our babies & kids!

Make sure everyone knows the signs/symptoms of RSV:

1. "Cold" symptoms that intensify
2. Lethargy
3. Worsening cough
4. Difficulty breathing (chest retracting)
5. Blue lips/skin (hypoxemia)

Thank you for your loving thoughts and prayers,
kari