number 2

Weeks ago I began a post in tribute to Lauren's second AA birthday.  It was good therapy to relive how we got from there to here but far enough in the rear view that it really didn't seem appropriate for ME to share her story.  

Lauren never was wild about school but did well and started the nursing program at DSCC only to miss the pharmacology by one point.  After that she worked at the hospital as a unit clerk and figured out nursing really wasn't for her.  She set her sights on social work and commuted to UTM while working the graveyard shift at the local Best Western.  Immediately following graduation in 2010 she went to work in for profit mental health and that was a quick burnout. She was going to visit a client in Trimble and was the first person to come across a wreck where a young woman who barely had a pulse died on the scene from a broken neck.  The wails that I heard from her that evening were something like I've never witnessed.  Primal.  

Then our entire family died within a year.  She was at work when somebody called her from her daddy's phone to tell her he was dead.  As his only relative, it fell to her to take care of all that.  Shortly after that Daddy died and Mama was just a few  months behind him.  It was a LOT and we were pretty overwhelmed.  

At that point she made the decision to get on the waiting list for Aspell Recovery.  After six weeks, she started the program that saved her life and the lives of many others.  I cannot describe to you how wonderful this not for profit recovery center is both to clients and families.  She took the bus to work when she got a job and clawed her way to independent living where she now resides with Reaves who was one of the blessings of all this!  The six weeks following her birth was a hot mess with one complication after another.  She and Mikel and I went through that together and it wasn't easy for a very sick postpartum patient with a newborn.  But with the help of a village, they are both well and happy and Reaves is 7 months old.  

I am so proud of Lauren for her hard work and dedication.  She's a sweet soul with a heart of gold who can get tough when times call for it.  She's very artistic and talented in many ways.  We have a similar sense of humor where often an eye roll between us says it all.  We get it.

Happy Birthday Babygirl!  " I love you forever, like you for always.  As long as I'm living my baby you'll be. "  Keep the faith ^j^