Christmas and New Year

This Christmas was the most amazing holiday I think I have ever had. We attended a party with my husband’s co-workers at the bowling alley. His boss and I had a discussion that brought tears to my eyes. It was everything I could do not to burst into tears and hug him. I am thankful that he has such amazing co-workers and that they understand his situation and needs.

My husband was so excited on Christmas morning that he was childlike. We awoke to snow. It had been 17 years since Nashville had a white Christmas. That made me more excited for all the blessings that I received that day. The thing that meant the most was that Bryan attended Christmas Eve candlelight service with my family. Bryan has not been to church since he was injured and I was so thankful that he did. The tears wanted to come during the service but I choked them back. I felt humbled and overwhelmed with gratitude.

I was blessed with wonderful gifts and the comfort of being around my family. My husband had very few situations when he wanted to withdraw. It was so much fun to watch him play with my little cousins and shoot Nerf guns with them. It is amazing the difference a year makes. I can say that last year I didn’t have hope for the following year. I am so glad that I stuck it out.

The Monday following Christmas we headed to Washington D.C. Bryan and I brought a robot so that he could drive it on the field to deliver the game day ball at the Military Bowl Game. I know he was nervous that something would happen with the robot and it would malfunction. Luckily, it did not. He was prepared and had all the extra things that he needed. After the ball was delivered he drove a coffee cup to the ESPN reporter and shot some game day footage with the robot’s camera. It all went very smoothly. Unfortunately, the prior game ran over so the ball being delivered wasn’t shown on TV. Attached is the footage with the reporter.

We were able to visit with some friends while we were there and meet new friends. We met a Wounded Warrior and his wife for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory on Thursday night. She volunteers with Operation Homefront and does a lot for families like hers. It was so great to meet them and it felt like we had been friends for years. We really need someone like them, who understands, to live closer to us to hang out with. We had so much fun with them that we invited them to join us for a charity event on New Year’s Eve at the Washington Navy Yard. The event was for Pets2Vets which places dogs with veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI. We couldn’t think of a better way to spend the holiday.

They did have a loud band that played at the event which made it hard on our Wounded Warriors but they both coped really well. We left at 12:03 because Bryan just couldn’t handle it anymore. Overall, it was a wonderful trip and I am glad that we went. Life couldn’t get any better at the moment and we are looking forward to an even better 2011.

Robot Delivering Game Ball



NYE



I am also doing Project 365 and started a seperate blog for it. You can follow here.