no words

This is the image of a champion. A beautiful and vibrant young woman who has faced the truest of battles and has come on the other side of uncertainty with a bountiful poise and grace.

She is truly my hero. You know, I look back in time, and I remember the moment my mother called me to inform me that Katherine Arnold Wolf had suffered a tremendous assault to her brain. I was in a cloud of disbelief, but thinking to myself "wow, I can't believe how much I am having to undergo with all of these tragic events." But after about 5 minutes of this mental state, I snapped back into reality.

My god, I had my health. Isn't it amazing how in the midst of tragedy we find ourselves so ultimately consumed with how it only effects ourselves? I mean, my darling friend Katherine is fighting brutally for her life, her family is in broken pieces, her husband and baby son are trembling with fear. And here I am afraid of how it is effecting me. But I don't punish myself for initially feeling this way. We all process things in our own way, we all have moments of selfishness. So for that, I don't punish myself, but I need to be very keen on how I move through my day.

I realize that for the day following receiving the news I went in between being completely consumed with how this tragedy was effecting her, her friends and her family...but also preoccupied with how this was hard on myself. It was incredible, for I had such a hard time getting past the fact that this year had been so hard on ME. Whoa.

Here, about 4 months later and one day later, my mindset has shifted completely. I no longer am interested in how her suffering is impacting me and my world. I concentrate completely on keeping up to date with her sister Amie and reading her mother Kim's blog. And through my visiting her in Los Angeles, I was able to see true miracles. I was able to see with my own eyes exactly what all she had overwhelmed. I got to see face to face her beautiful husband who adores her as much as he did when he first met her. I was able to kneel down by her wheelchair and talk to her about the men in my life.

It is remarkable when you gain the right perspective and see a situation for what it is, instead of what it is in your life. I have been so humbled by Katherine Arnold Wolf. She has allowed me to enter into the beauty of life and all of its good, she has shown me through her optimism that her stamina is not tainted here. Jeez, I mean she showed me in her hospital bed how to operate a Blackberry. And let me tell you, that quickly put me in my place. She longs for her life back. She longs to hold her baby and be with her husband. But she never complains, and never shows defeat. And for that, she is my champion.