I Will Wait for You

Every story has a beginning, middle and an end. 

You and I are going to go through one story to find each of these points. 

To do that we are going to try and do three things. 

Are you ready? 

This simple story has to do this well-loved, small, molded plastic reminder of where we’ll begin. 

Take a look at the details, if you will. 

Do you see the round bottom of the figure? 

This shows how well it is created to roll back and forth to create the first moments of finding a rhythm in life. 

That, my friends, is when this one green and yellow item began to bring joy. 

The things that told him they would wait for him.

It was also when our son, the one who found his rhythm, seemed to find that toys were the things that told him they would wait for him. 

Wait for him to be ready to learn and play again.

As if the steady step and beat of one friendly face could bring more. 

I’ll tell you it did because there is more to the story.

That is where the middle of the story comes into the scene. 

Of course. 

This one steady beat rolled into our world like the song from Mumford & Sons. 

Same title that shares about how I Will Wait for you. 

The middle of the story is when I learned how to wait for the joy to come back to us, when we were waiting for the rhythm to find all of us. 

This friendly face came with more that became the way our son found his way through moments of confusion and unknown. 

Ultimately, it is how he rewired his neurons when electrical storms known as seizures changed his rhythm for periods of time. 

You see, there were three more of these small, molded plastic toys that rolled with a soft click and clack after illness came to him. 

Four ways to restart joy.

Four little ways to restart joy. How did it happen in the middle of illness and what felt like stopping points in the middle? 

Oh, my goodness. 

Look at the edges of the friendly face with yellow and green. Do you see the rubbed off edges? 

Two little hands found every ridge and edge, including the top, and then found that each one could be rolled around a small space, and they could not be pushed over. 

Can you see it in your mind? Let me describe it a bit more. 

Our son would take all four of these small sized toys in his hands, find a space in our home with an open hard floor to roll them out then slowly push them around to watch each one wobble. 

A slight smile would then grow as calm came again. 

What a sight it was to see this in the middle of a changing life. 

Yes, the toys did wait for him.

Yes indeed, the toys did wait for him. 

Then came the sweetest thing in life. Incredibly, it was also when we started with the end of the story. 

We’re going to take one more look at this child sized molded plastic piece of joy. 

Do you see the plastic film that is tightly wrapped around the top? 

That is because of the time of a repetitive rolling and rocking of the toys meant that love met gentle use. 

Then one day, the toy popped in half as it steadily said ‘I will wait and be here’ for our son.

What do you do when a beloved toy is now in two pieces? 

Well, you fix it! 

That is exactly what I did and with the clear tape we had on hand. 

Then the two small hands held it again. 

Can you guess what happened? 

Yes, of course. The joyful rhythm continued with more clicks and clacks. 

And then one more thing happened. 

Perhaps you’ve found this in your life as a story with a beginning, middle and end is near. 

Another beginning came to us.

Another beginning came to us. 

More rolling and rhythms came to our son in a new space. 

I have wondered and wandered through time about how this came to him. 

Then I look at this small green and yellow, well-loved toy and remember how one end became a new beginning. 

Our son was quite like the toys that wobbled then popped up every time during a long time of his life.

One steady rhythm which included creating a harmonious time for him came to us because he listened to a click and clack that said I will wait for you to be ready to play again. 

Then our son played again. 

He learned more about how his life could be and we followed him. 

Imagining what can come is what I can do now. 

While I wander along with you. 

Let’s create the next beginning together.