The resilience of the heart

It's Valentine's weekend so hearts are everywhere. Heart shaped candy, jewelry, toys for your pet and I even heard an advertisement for heart shaped pizza! (It was only $5!!)

I have a new appreciation for the ole ticker this year. My dad had a heart attack a few weeks ago. He is going to be fine, now, but he is very lucky. I am so very grateful.

The heart is really magnificent. I am certainly talking about the literal heart, but I am also talking about the Valentine heart. The good thing about the literal heart is that it can usually be fixed and the person feels 100% better when that happens. This is what happened with my dad. He had not been feeling himself for about 6 months, and now we know it was because his heart wasn't letting him get enough blood to his system. Now, his heart is fixed and he feels 100% better! (To maintain this 100% he has a lot of work to do, but is willing to do so!)

The Valentine heart doesn't seem to be as easily fixed. Or, I guess it is fixed in different ways. One of my most favorite words is resilient. To be resilient means we endure much more than we think we can and then come through on the other side, usually stronger and with a new perspective. My Valentine heart is resilient. I think most of us could say that we have had our hearts broken and during this time of the year remembering those times and what it took for us to come out the other side is the picture of resilience.

This resilience only happens with a team of "doctors" by our side. My dad's team of doctors literally saved his life. If they hadn't have been there, I would be writing a much different blog...but they were and his heart is fixed. I have been blessed to have had different teams of doctors save my life. I know I couldn't name them all but a few of them are:

Brian...of course. He is my number one doctor on the team. He saw my heart, loved it, cared for it and showed me I could use my heart again. This rare gift does not go unnoticed. My heart is safe because I have Brian.

My family is on this team of doctors. They have shown me an unconditional sort of love that has saved me over and over again. I am eternally grateful that I have such an amazing family.

And finally there is the dynamic and life saving team of doctors that are my friends. I would need way more space than a silly blog to communicate the ways that their strength swooped in and helped me when I have been so weak. They (YOU!) have showed me that there are lots of ways to celebrate the life of the heart.


So, thank you to the team of doctors that have saved me. I know that the resilience of the heart is a miracle and for this I am very grateful.