Guitar Hospital

Excerpt
The following is an excerpt from the book The Right Words at the Volume Right Time 2
by Marlo Thomas
Published by Atria, April 2006, $ 25.00US / $ 34.50CAN; 0-7434-9743-0
Copyright © 2006 Marlo Thomas

Amy Jaffe Barzach
Advocate for Children of All Abilities
West Hartford, Connecticut

I had given up all the words normal, now I was looking for the magic - words that would make the pain go away. It was only after the New Year, when I lost Jonathan, my baby son, the spinal muscular atrophy. And I was stuck. Everything I read in books and magazines made sense, but none had pain.

Just before Jonathan died, I had sat with him in the hospital, his small hand clasped in mine, its three-year-old brother, Daniel, entertaining us with songs on his guitar. Copies Parade magazine was on the table. On the cover were the words, dealing with the loss of celebration of life. The meaning struck a chord in me, but its impact was still to come.

Jonathan died three days later. The despair that followed was unbearable, the day was difficult, the nights were worse. Seeking comfort, I came across a passage in The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, who spoke about celebrating life as a way of dealing with the loss. I looked up my book and saw the card memorial just my husband had for me, which included a picture of Jonathan and the words of the cover Parade, stratified.

This time, the words took a grip on me and would not let go. Started crying uncontrollably, but the tears I felt different, like a new beginning. It was as if the darkness that surrounded me for the past few months had lifted.

Dealing with the loss of celebrating life.

I remembered a sunny day, just before Jonathan became ill. I had taken and Daniel to a park and while Daniel frolicked, I swung Jonathan in his car. Suddenly, I noticed a little girl sitting in a wheelchair on the sidewalk, sadly, watching the other children. His fingers firmly snapped the spokes of his wheelchair, small chin trembled as he tried to hold back the tears. She longed to join other children playing, but with an access path equipment, she could not get close. And even if you could, there was nothing for her to do. It is a part of the park was available for a child in a chair tractors.

The image of the girl sitting on the sidelines continued to haunt me, while Jonathan was struggling for life in hospital. Now here I was at my desk, thinking on how to celebrate the life of Jonathan. I had my answer.

And if I built a park where all children could play? That would not be a true celebration life?

The idea stayed with me through the next few months while I struggled to find the strength and courage to get the job. I started slowly, with the help of my family, I recruited volunteers - more than a thousand of them. My husband made cards memorial little, just as he had done for me, for all our family. Carried them with us everywhere, and even today, I still find them unexpectedly into the pockets of something I'm wearing.

But on April 1 this year's address - which would first anniversary Jonathan was - I was once again fell into despair. I saw the other babies that seemed almost a year old and my heart break all over again. I longed for Jonathan.

Instead of running from the date, my husband Peter and I decided to make a birthday party for Jonathan's local hospital. We arranged for a storyteller and a singer to entertain the children. We spent the day crying tears of joy and tears of sadness.

We celebrate the day. And we survived the day.

Eighteen months from the day I first read these words insightful, open our playground special. We call it the dream of Jonathan. The moment I saw children in wheelchairs rolling up the ramp to the equipment, I was overwhelmed with tears of happiness.

Here were children of all abilities, playing and learning together.

They were celebrating life. And I was celebrating Jonathan.

Copyright © 2006 Marlo Thomas

About the Author:

Marlo Thomas graduated from the University of Southern California with a teaching degree. She is the author of four bestselling books, Free to Be . . . You and Me, Free to Be . . . a Family, The Right Words at the Right Time, and Thanks and Giving: All Year Long. Ms. Thomas has won four Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe, a Grammy, the Peabody Award, and has been inducted into the Broadcasting Hall of Fame for her work in television, including her starring role in the landmark series That Girl, which she also conceived and produced. She is the National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Ms. Thomas lives in New York with her husband, Phil Donahue.

For more information, please visit
www.rightwordsbooks.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - Celebrating Jonathan

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