Weaving Golden Moments of May 7th
We know life is but a tapestry of moments woven together. Some moments are made of golden threads that stand out more than others.
Today we mark a few golden moments of May 7th. May this be a gift to you to take the time to remember the moments, the gold threads of your tapestry.
May 7, 2012
We gathered a team of over 175 people, Team Lebano, for a fundraising event to support a cause close to our heart. This was an event known as the “Hear We Go,” which was created to bring awareness and raise funds for those affected by hearing loss. We learned when we shed light on the hope it settled our hearts and made it easier to cope with the declining hearing of my oldest girl, Sophia. By now, she was 12 and living with hearing loss for 4 years.
May 7, 2017
We gathered once again with a more intimate group of friendly and beloved faces of some new and veteran members of Team Lebano. We dressed in our “bright-as-the-sun” golden t-shirts to bring awareness, raise funds, to walk/run or dance, and to celebrate Sophia’s new gift of hearing. She was recovering and training her brain after her first Cochlear Implant Surgery only 5 months earlier. And while she completed her listening therapy, she finished the spring semester of Sophomore year online, and she learned how to drive.
May 7, 2018
We gathered a bag and left the house at 6:00 am to drive to the hospital for an early morning surgery —the second Cochlear Implant for her right ear. This surgery was met with much less trepidation and armed with more knowledge and compassion from friends.
It seemed less daunting. Still, this meant natural hearing would no longer be present —joy meets grief. We learned that when you name all the feelings even for a moment, it honors them. Then we turn our attention to the positive by serving those who walk the path behind us. May they know they are not alone.
While healing and training Sophia’s hearing, we were once again met with one more twist from joy to grief. Two days after Sophia’s successful surgery, my dad fell ill. Days turned into weeks in and out of the hospital for my dad. Little did we know, we were preparing our goodbye. My father is resting in peace now.
Though grief and pain were part of the story at the time, we are taking the time now to celebrate something that may have been best honored long ago. Here we are marking a moment to celebrate the gift of the Cochlear Implants, the new access to sound, working through listening therapy, and the bravery amidst so much pain.
May 7, 2020
We gathered the memories of the past to reflect on where we are today. Just like Sophomore year, hearing loss created a need to withdraw from school. Sophia learned to adapt, took steps to heal, and tried new things.
She is using her voice to bring awareness and hope once again as she shares about her hearing loss and sometimes funny stories about her cochlear implants. In the “Hear and Now” is how she is living. Have you heard her podcast? She has become an inspiration to so many, especially to me.
Today, we celebrate as Sophia finished her first full semester of college. This freshman year of college was not as she had planned. Truth be told, nothing really has been since she first began to lose her hearing. But we learned to adapt, to heal, to get back up, and to come out cheering for our “super HEAR-O.”
May you always mark the moments that define you. May 7th seems to be one such moment for us.
May you always have a team —enormous in number and in hearts—that supports you on your journey. The support we received with Team Lebano will forever hold a HUGE place in our hearts.
May you find the golden thread in your tapestry of life. This thread is as bright as those yellow shirts worn by so many who gathered on this day.
Weaving together the threads of our story and seeing how they connect has been a gift along this journey. We only look back, so we may see how far we have come. And when we do, we get a glimpse of the beauty from those dark threads because they highlight the golden ones.
It seems fitting to leave you with this poem written by Corrie ten Boom that I came across today.
The Weaver
“My life is but a weaving, between my Lord and me;
I cannot choose the colors;
He worketh steadily.
Oft times he weaveth sorrow,
And I, in foolish pride,
Forget he sees the upper
and I the underside
Not ’til the loom is silent
and the shuttles cease to fly,
Shall God unroll the canvas
and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needful
in the Weaver’s Skillful hands
as the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned.”
I had to share one more detail with you on this. After I finished reading this to Sophia, she was excited to point out that the colors of Hearing Loss awareness are Gold and Silver. (In case you forget, please reread the end of that poem)
