isn't it funny how God works sometimes? things seem so peaceful, so tranquil.. but it's usually all just the calm before the storm.
sunday went fine until i got the phone call about avery. he's one of the campers from this summer -- adorable 14 year old with downs... amazing kid, mohawk, broke his foot skim boarding at the beach, can recite all of the lines from bare necesities... really a joy to work with. apparently he got pneumonia a week or so ago, the sickness turned bacterial, and it wore a hole in his lung causing him to have a heart attack. by the time the ems got there, his brain had gone 10 minutes without oxygen. he's now on life support.
it's scary how quickly life can be taken away. we went to visit him.. cory, me, bridgette, scott, andrew, josh... and it was surreal. we just stood there in the pediatrics icu, he laid there peacefully. the diagnosis isn't good, we're deciding what to do. i kept thinking he's not supposed to be here. he's too young. he has so much left to give. but it didn't make him get up. i kept wanting to touch his arm, give him another piggyback ride, dye his hair red again... get up, laugh, something... but he just stayed there. too many tubes and machines. he needs to be free of all of this. he didn't look the same... his chest moved rigidly when the machines said to, his mouth didn't change when we laughed, his eyes didn't cry when we cried. he was there, but he wasn't.
his parents were incredible.. they just stood there and told stories and asked us for pictures and celebrated what a cool kid they had raised. in the big picture, that's how it's supposed to go. death is supposed to be the gateway to the real deal, to the good part.. to the afterlife. we're supposed to wait our whole lives to get caught up in God's embrace.
God just couldn't wait to hug avery.
maybe that's how it should be looked at. i haven't heard the update yet.. i don't know how he is, or what they decided. they said something about 10 days while we were there. pray for a miracle or for a sense of peace, either will do, really. if things don't get better, we can rest assured that avery will rock out heaven. st. pete will have a mohawk at the door, mother teresa will be dancing to the bare necessities, augustine will learn a whole new batch of pick up lines... avery will be skim boarding with jpII... things will be the way they're supposed to be. beautiful chaos.
but why now? he is -- hands down -- one of the "favorite campers" of many of the counselors.. most likely to not be returned to his parents at the end of the week simply because the couneslors can't let him go. he's that kid. the one that comes into your life and will never leave. the laugh and the smiles and the mischevious grin... he's incredible.
so here's to you, avery. thank you for all that you've done for us... but just one thing; when you convince st. pete to get a mohawk, try to talk him out of the red dye... i don't think he could pull it off quite like you. you're one of a kind, kiddo.
pray for us, that we can love the world like you.
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