Sorry!

Sorry was always one of my very favorite games. Lately, I can’t help but feel as though I am in a real life version of my preferred board game. I feel we are the pawns moving both forward and back, day in and day out.

If you stretch your mind way back to the days of pulling the Sorry game from the top shelf, you may remember that it was not merely a game of just forward and backward motion. Every move across the board involved a great deal of strategy. In order to defeat your opponent you had to carefully assess every situation before proceeding. If you remember, moving forward was not always a good thing and moving backward may just have put you in a better position.

I feel all of the same rules of this favored board game apply to my life now. Prior to the accident, Aviana would pass her various stages of development and we would happily and readily push those items out the door. We would then bring in new items for the next phase of her advancement. You know the routine.

For the past months we have found ourselves in an uncharted territory. Instead of continuing on our usual path, we were shoved down a detour, and have in some respects gone back in time. It is like musical furniture and toys in our household.

The following is a snapshot of the past two months.

Out with the booster seat, back in with the high chair.

Out with the Tinker Bell undies, back in with the diapers.

Out with the toddler bed, back in with the crib.

Out with the forks, spoons and plates, back in with the bottles, just for measuring and storing purposes, not eating.

Out with the advanced playthings, back in with the baby sensory toys and books.

By all accounts it looks as though all we have done is move backwards in the Brain Injury game, right? Not so. Yes, we have moved backwards, but remember the board game...backwards is not necessarily always a bad thing.

With every move, we have grown as individuals, as a family. We have become stronger as people. I always felt my family, myself included, was a group of loving, caring, compassionate people. Above all, I always felt we were solid as a rock. You would think that after being dragged through the mud by our feet we would be beaten down and knocked out. What I see is just the opposite.

Experiencing Aviana as she is now has made one thing crystal clear~ We are more loving than ever before. We are caring beyond belief. We have become compassionate to every situation, realizing now more than ever that we do not know what personal journey someone else may be on at any given moment. And of course, we are stronger than we ever thought possible.

That being said, I am confident when I say, together we will strategically navigate back and forth across our very own board game until we defeat the opponent.

You know who the opponent is, right?