Hello everyone,
I am celebrating my 20th wedding anniversary this month! You might not think that this occasion and milestone is so unusual. I hope you read on to see why it means so much to me and my wife Kathy.
I have experienced many anniversaries since I went completely blind and had to stay in hospital for 7 months in 1999. Some of my more gratifying anniversaries include the following.
• First time I was able to sit up in bed without help.
• First time I was able to sit at the dining room table and sit in a standard chair.
• First time I was able to put on my clothes by myself.
• First time I was able to get to the shower and take a shower on my own.
• First time I was able to walk outside on my own.
I had to learn how to do everything all over again just like I was experiencing everything for the first time as a child. To add to my challenges I lost the ability to walk for one year due to same illness which took my eyesight away from me instantly. I could go on, and on with above examples as you might imagine. Each one of the above anniversaries could have a story and message all by themselves.
In this message I want to focus on my wedding anniversary, since this month it is my 20th. This occasion is very special to me and my wife Kathy for many reasons.
I only remember 19 of my last 20 wedding anniversaries. You might wonder why? When I was sick I was in a coma for 3 months on life support in hospital. While I was in a coma I missed my 12th wedding anniversary. My wife had to celebrate our 12th wedding anniversary looking down at me as I layed on a hospital bed on life support with many tubes in me as machines made me breathe. Kathy did not know if I would live or die at this point. The doctors were not even sure I would live. I can only imagine the hopeless and fear my wife must have had during this time. I had only been in a coma since May and Kathy did not know at this point I would not wake up until late in July.
More Obstacles to test Our Marriage
That situation might have sounded dire enough, but we were to soon find out we had more obstacles to overcome. When I did finally awake from my coma after 3 months we found out I lost all eyesight and I would never be able to see my wife Kathy’s face ever again.
I will always remember my 11th wedding anniversary. This was the last anniversary I was able to hold my wife and look into her bright caring eyes and see her loving expression on her pretty face. After my illness we both knew the future would be drastically changed from our plans we had when we took our wedding vows. After staying in hospital for 7 months, enduring many surgeries, procedures, acquiring new medical conditions which require daily care, loosing medical insurance and accumulating a large amount of debt because of medical expenses we were going to have a lot to overcome to test our marriage. We also realized I needed to get specialized training to allow me to live as a blind person and we needed to be connected to resources to help us be successful in our new changed life.
A New Life and Hope
I was pushed out into the sun and fresh air when I was finely released from hospital. Being alive is all we cared about at this moment. I had no idea of how to do anything as a newly blind person. My wife did not know how she would care for me since I did not even have enough strength to sit up in bed by myself. Having the ability to live again and be going home was the best gift of all. We were ready to tackle our new challenges together. We would be able to share our new lives together and experience many more wedding anniversaries together. Even though I can now only see blackness when I hold my wife and look towards her eyes, I am still very happy. I would not trade my life for anything! Our lives together will continue to grow with love and happiness in each passing year. Being completely blind and experiencing all of my other medical conditions is much better than having never awakened from my coma and having my wife Kathy not have me any more. I am blessed to be able to experience my 20th wedding anniversary for sure!
Now you know some of why this anniversary is so special to me
What I have learned about why anniversaries are so special.
• You should avoid looking to the future hoping for more happiness in your life.
• You should live in the present and enjoy your opportunities of the moment.
•Do not expect all to go smoothly, or the way you planned. Be flexible.
• You should appreciate every anniversary. You never know when it might be your last chance.
Some of you might have challenges you want to share that are far grater then I have that bring special meanings around anniversaries for you. Even if you have no challenges we want to hear any anniversaries of any type you want to share with us. You don’t even need to be married or have a partner to celebrate such an occasion, like I listed above as some of my other anniversaries. Do you have any thoughts about anniversaries?
We look forward to hearing from you.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/