“Each Other’s Miracle” By Michael Tracy Smith

 “Each Other’s Miracle”

There is a moment, after they tell you,

That you have an incurable, chronic degenerative disease,

That you feel all alone,

That you ARE all alone,

That you are the only one that you know that has to deal with something so huge,

so formidable, so difficult, so challenging and utterly life-changing.

There is a moment, after they tell you, That everything will be okay,

That you feel they are lying, that your life is now definitely and completely over,

and that no-one understands or knows the full extent of what you have lost.

We do. We who have what you have. We who’ve lost what you’ve lost.

We who feel the pain that you feel. We who struggle with what you struggle with.

We’re fighting to keep our lives from becoming less than what we dreamed they would be before all this.

And we’re scared that we are losing the fight.

We know. We know the fear of unknown disability and uncertain futures.

We know how what you thought you were is no longer how you are.

We know how hard life has become in more ways than anyone else can possibly know.

We know. We are a miracle in your life.

We are the vindication that you are not alone, that you are understood by someone.

We are your reassurance that despite it all, you can make it through the difficult times. We are your mirror and your sounding board.

We are your miracle.

We are not alone, we are united in our understanding.

We are each other’s insistence that we can carry on, that giving up is not an option.

We are each other’s lesson that our lives still have worth and can continue on,

striving to learn and then reaching out to teach, in an unending cycle of giving and receiving.

When you sink into despair, and think the worst,

We know. We have too.

We know all the levels of Hell that there are to know.

Just as you know them.

We are your miracle.

We will steady you, so you don’t fall, help you learn to cope and shed real tears for your pain,

which is the pain we, ourselves know all too well.

There is a moment, sometimes long after they tell you that you have an incurable, chronic degenerative disease,

that you come to know that you are still you and that despite it all, you are going to be all right.

We are each other’s miracle.

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c 2004 Michael Tracy Smith

New York United States of America

12/7/1950 – 12/6/2016

Below is the link to Michael's Story

A.S. Face 0405: Michael Tracy Smith