Endless Bounty

I just stood in the living room with my head thrown back, laughing, at the overflowing bounty. We just walked in the door at 10 pm to get some sleep, after stopping by the security desk to give them cookies that Joan baked (need to butter those guys up since we're making them work overtime with our entourage).

We called our friend Robert to see how Roxie is doing (he and his boyfriend Reid are taking acre of her) . He mentioned that he didn't have a chance to put the food that got left for us into the fridge. We'd already been home 10 minutes and hadn't even seen that we had food and if we hadn't called him, we would have just gone to bed and let a delicious meal from Alexis go bad (split pea soup, salad, homemade goat cheese and mozzarella pizza and cookies!). Then I walked into the backyard to see that Cherry had mowed our lawn. This is just today...

We went on a walk today to Bake Sale Betty's and a complete stranger said, "Jaime and Laura? I'm a friend of your friend's friend and I just wanted to say hi and ask how Simon is doing". I'm beginning to feel connected to every single person on the planet through Simon. It's the most amazing feeling.

I can't begin to describe how it feels to have so much love coming to us, from so many different directions, in so many different ways. Everyone is showing up in their own way. Folks that can't handle the hospital are helping us at home. Folks that bake are baking. Folks that know and love our dog are taking care of her. Folks that don't even know us are sending us messages from all over the planet, just to let us know that they're there and they know. That's the best thing for me right now. To know that thousands of people know and are sharing our burden with us.

I just keep whispering to Simon when he cries, "I know. I know this is happening to you. I see it. I'm right here and I know". I want him to know that this is really happening and that he is not alone. I plan to keep talking about this experience long before he has words- tell him the stories again and pave the way for him to process it all because he's going to have some serious shit to work out.

The things that have happened to him (and to us) I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy...

I do think that this is one of those experiences that will make our family stronger. One of our doctors had a little chat with us about how things like this bring some people together and tear others apart. It was a wise word of warning...

The very first night (or morning) when Laura and I sat in the conference room off the ICU and lost our shit as they intubated our son to keep him alive, I grabbed her face, looked her in the eye, and told her that the most important thing to me through all this is our relationship. I am not willing to be one of those couples that falls apart. Shimmy came to us because we are a powerful force *together* and anything I can do to keep us going strong, I will do. Not splitting up at night is the most obvious way we are doing this. Sometimes it physically hurts to leave him by himself in the hospital overnight, but some nights we just have to. He has a nurse just there to watch him (the highest paid babysitter we'll ever have, one of them said) and I think it's more important for us to be intact. It's a horrible choice to have to make but it's one I can live with...for now.

Okay, off to watch the finale of "So You Think You Can Dance" and then to sleep.