Birthday Week

With all of this talk of eye charts and visual acuity, I finally broke down and went to the eye doctor (for the first time since junior high).

I have sat in many patient rooms over the last six months as they pulled up the eye chart in the small square mirror on the wall.  I could probably close my eyes and recite the letters from memory.  This, however, was the first time I was the patient, so I tried to be as honest as I could be.  (Although, it would be impossible for me not to say the V is a V even when it REALLY looks like a Y, because I know it's a V and that would be silly to lie about it.)

Sitting in the patient chair myself, the doctor asked what the middle line of letters read.  It wasn't hard to do the math and quickly figure out where my vision rested.  Almost as quickly as I figured out that I had 20/40 in my right eye and 20/30 in my left, I realized that Dustin can read the charts better than I can!  I was surprised to find that fact making me grin from ear to ear for the rest of the day.

I LOVE that my husband, who was told he would NEVER see even a speck of light again - who's eyes were "damaged beyond repair" - can see at least two lines further down on the eye chart than my unscathed eyes!  I truly stand all amazed!

I was also the biggest baby when they put they eye drops in my eyes. I almost couldn't handle it!  Which was really funny to me because Dust has never flinched nor has he once complained with all the drops and ointments that go into his eyes every day.

Then on Wednesday it was my favorite day of the year.  The day (er week) that everyone has to do everything I want and shower me with surprises.  You guessed it.... It was MY BIRTHDAY!  

I really just love my birthday!  I know that I'm getting to the age where I should start hating it, but I'm honestly not sure that will ever happen.

After waking up with snuggles from my two little munchkins, we went upstairs to find that Dust had ordered and stayed up until midnight putting together the bike trailer/jogger I have been wanting for quite a while now.  Resting on top of the handle bars was the sweetest letter from my amazing husband.

A few tears later, I loaded the kids in (still in their jammies) with a whole bunch of snacks and off we went!  

I picked Dust up a few hours early from work to go get his CT scan up at the U of U hospital, which was actually kind of nice because we got to spend rest of the afternoon together.  (Only to be interrupted by a few.... ok a LOT of work calls.)  The doctors wanted Dust to get another CT scan so they can see where all the plates and bones have settled to help them in making a game plan for the next surgery.

After that, we took the kids to the park.

We made it home just in time for the babysitter to arrive.  Dust surprised me by scheduling a  babysitter and planning a sweet little dinner date for just the two of us - all by himself!  (Big deal around here!)

The birthday celebrations continued the next day at lunch with my sis-in-laws and mother-in-law and some shopping.

And then the next day at the park with my sis and some friends.

On Friday morning, I woke up to this on Dustin's Instagram.

Once again, "The Eye of the Tiger" started playing in my mind as I read his post.  (see this blog post from November 17 if you don't know what I'm talking about)  It's really crazy to me to read that post and think about how we felt in that moment.  

Some days it honestly felt like there would be no light at the end of the tunnel, because that tunnel had decided to cave in on us.  But as I watched Dust struggle to squat his diminished body weight, I saw something spark in him.  

For the last few months, I have seen Dustin day after day, handful by handful, do the work to dig himself out of the hole he found himself buried deep in.  I've seen him do this in many different areas, but it's fun to have tangible evidence of the persistent and unfailing hard work he has put in.  It's nothing short of majestic to see the dirt under his fingernails and the sunlight on his face.

I am so proud of this strong, determined, resilient man!  Less than six months after the accident that melted 35 pounds off his already lean body, just shy of four months after beginning to build himself back up physically, he has made it back to his goal weight!

Watching Dust reach that goal, seeing that fire back in his eyes about the things he loves to do, and realizing he can see better than I can were the very best birthday gifts I could have wished for this year!  The jogger and dinner with my love just made it that much sweeter.  

Oh, I love this man!  Can I say that enough?  I'm sorry if it gets annoying, but I really really adore this great man of mine.

Aaaand finally, we had my last birthday celebration of the year last night by diving in to a very large, very delicious German chocolate cake with my family in Arizona.

That, my friends, is a birthday week!

I want to make our Arizona trip it's own little post, so look for that in the next few days (if I get on top of the post-trip laundry).