This Night

One of the days that I've dreaded has come. It was one year ago tonight that I received the phone call from Jordan telling me that he had just come from the doctor and that something was wrong. One year ago, the world changed.

Before he called, I had jusd lived some of the happiest months of my life. Our family had enjoyed a blissful reunion at Bear Lake in August. As far as I knew then, all was peaceful and well between all of us. Missy had helped me with a fun Christmas project for the family, a photo book of the reunion. We'd spent a great Thanksgiving with her and Ethan and the girls, and they had even left Brooklyn and Lilly with us for the following week. What a blast that was! My heart was so full of love and gratitude that I conquered my fear and bore my testimony in fast and testimony meeting that day to publicly thank Heavenly Father for all my blessings, and to testify of Him and His Son, and the gospel. Life seemed perfect that day.

Then came the phone call from Jordan in China. I stayed up all night that night, talking with him and Brianna, and sending e-mails back and forth, researching, praying, waiting for more information. They boarded a train and went to a specialist in another city right away. She wanted a large sum of money and to admit Jordan to the hospital to begin treatment. Jordan, Brianna, and Dan and I quickly decided that it would be best for him to come to America for treatment. He arrived on Dec. 5th, leaving a fully supportive, but sad and lonely Brianna behind in China. She had extracted a promise from him that he would find a way to get her here within two weeks. We worked frantically, and he/we did it too, almost. It took two and a half weeks.She flew in on Dec. 23rd.

So many ups and downs since then. Such an unfamiliar, arduous road we've traveled, beginning that night, one year ago. Jordan traveled the whole way with courage and composure.We've stumbled once in awhile since he's been gone, but we're moving ahead now, making slow but steady progress. To live with the courage he had, to take joy in simply living and interacting with other people, and to keep a sense of humor as he did, are just three of the things about Jordan that I want to emulate.

All of us Washburns have a stripe of silly in our souls. Jordan's may have been the widest. Tonight, we will exercise that silly stripe when we take our Christmas family photos. We need a reason to laugh this night.