Life was perfect, until it wasn't. The stereotypical high school sweethearts go to college together and get married after graduation at the age of 23. He goes to med school, she's a kindergarten teacher. Our life was perfect and then it wasn't.
We had been married five years and were as happy as ever. Had finally moved out of our small one bedroom 750 square foot apartment, into our first house. The house wasn't a mansion by any means but it was our home at 2,400 square feet with three bedrooms. The extra space was much need with our son coming into the world in four months.
Our life sounds perfect and it was pretty close, until the one day it all changed.
I was at home in bed, he was working a 48 hour shift at the hospital. He should of been home by 6:30 that morning but he wasn't. At exactly 7:19 on that Thursday morning, a phone call from the police came. It was a drunken driver. I needed to get to the hospital, they didn't know if he would make. Brain swelling they said, we'll have to operate. The world was a blur, he was my best friend, my rock, my entire world, I couldn't lose him.
I was lucky his father was a doctor in the ER, I don't think I could make those phone calls. to hear his mother cry. He made it through surgery, if he went through the night without any complications, he should make. Or that's what they told me at least, I don't know of I believed them.
He did make it through the night, but when he didn't show any signs of waking up two weeks later, they announced he was in a coma. He looked like he was sleeping, while my entire world was falling apart. I had to go back to work, but I was at his bedside every night, praying for him to wake up. Going back into work was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Having to pretend I was happy. When people would ask me how I was doing and I would tell them I was fine, when actually I was falling apart inside. Three months later, I was eight months pregnant and he was still in a coma. My fear of him not waking up and me going through being a parent alone grew everyday.
On April 7th, 2012, our son came into the world. We had agreed to name him Masen, but I couldn't do it, he wasn't there it didn't feel right. Three days later I was released from the hospital. I visited him and took our son with me, it was the only way he would see his dad, for now I hope. I told him how much I miss him and how much I wish he would have been there. I tell how much our son Edward looks like him. We never talked about naming our son after him, but as soon as I saw him I knew it was meant to be that way, though I call him EJ.
EJ became the only reason I got up in the morning and leaving him to go to work was excruciating. I wanted to be with him all day, but I couldn't. He grew like a weed, it seemed that every time I turned around he was bigger and looked more like his father.
My mother-in-law Esme insisted on having family brunch every Sunday. So every weekend EJ and I would head to the in-laws and have brunch. No one would dare to miss, with Edward being in a coma, she wouldn't take any excuse, we all need to be together she would say. It was nice being with family though, I didn't feel as alone then.
The night of our wedding anniversary, my Esme and Carlisle kept EJ. U had to be with my husband. I didn't get to go to the hospital everyday to see him anymore, so it was even more important that I was there this day. I sat by his bedside all night and cried, begging for him to be okay, for him to meet our son, for him to come back to me. It was roughly 3:00 A.M. when it happened, I was awake because there was no way I could sleep, I hardly ever slept, so it definitely happened, his hand twitched and his eyelids fluttered. Then there was nothing it was like nothing had happened. As I was leaving later that morning his doctor stopped me, everything looks fine he said, it's only a matter of time now. That didn't give me anymore hope. When the one year anniversary of the accident passed I was a mess, it was like it was happening all over again. I wonder everyday if he was going to wake up. Something funny will happen or I hear a joke I know he'll like, but when I go to tell him, he isn't there.
A nine months EJ took his first steps, and at eleven months he said his first word. Dada. Of course EJ knew who his father was, he saw pictures and even goes to the hospital sometimes to visit with me. As Ej grows he becomes more and more like his father, not only in looks but in the way he acts. He's so smart and not shy at all. Though I can claim being part of the reason he's smart, but I'm definitely shy, very shy.
On EJ's first birthday we have a huge party. He loves it, all the attention on him he was in heaven. Me on the other hand was just wishing Edward could be here with us. As the school year ended, EJ and I made our way down to Florida to visit my mom. I was kind of freaking out, it was the farthest I had been from the hospital. Thankful EJ slept almost the whole flight. After two fun packed weeks on the beach with my mother it was time to go home.
The summer faded into fall and the new school year started. has more m\days past, the more my level of hope began to decrease. It had been almost two years, the doctors said his chances of waking up were almost zero.
As another Thanksgiving and Christmas passed, I don't think anyone had much hope. Two years to the day of his accident I was sitting on the living room floor playing with EJ, when the phone rang. It was Carlisle. "He's awake." he said "He's asking for you."
I picked EJ up and ran faster than I've ever ran before to the car. It didn't matter that we were both in our pajamas, all that mattered was that my husband, EJ's father was awake, after two year.
When we got to the hospital, I immediately went straight to his room. The door was part way open, I could see that he was sitting up talking to his father. It was surreal I never and I mean never thought I would see him with his eyes open.
EJ announced our presence by running into the room screaming "DADA!"
His head turned so fast I'm surprised he didn't give himself whiplash. As I walked into the room I couldn't help but smile as he lifted up onto the bed and into his lap. I was so engrossed in the two of them I didn't even here Carlisle leave.
"I love you." He says
"I love you too, but if you ever scare me like that again you'll be sorry." I say
He laughs at me and tells me I'll never change. He's probably right I won't but neither will he.
Life is becoming perfect again.