"I'm on Your Side..."

Alessandra/Danda/Panda (I love all the names you have acquired over the years!),
You are the focus of my very first blog submission. Thank you for breaking me in to this way of communicating with you and joining an online community of other friends and family members. Perhaps you may think it a dubious honor, given the circumstances; fair enough, but still it makes me happy to add my meager two cents to the outpouring of positive sentiments that I have recently read, all directed at you. I feel as if I am adding my voice to a Carnegie Hall chorus, and almost invariably the “music” is joyous, celebratory, intimate, occasionally caustic and saucy and outside the box, but always heartfelt. Once I actually sat in the highest tier of Carnegie Hall to hear a Simon and Garfunkel concert, being too poor on my teacher’s salary to do any better. It was magical, even if the pair looked like miniatures on the stage! The acoustics are so good there that you can hear clearly, even pressed up against the ceiling. I am reminded now of their beautiful lyrics to “Bridge Over Troubled Waters” and the way we would all lay ourselves down to get you through and over this perilous period. When you get the least little bit weary or sad, take comfort from that.
When I read your entries, it’s a little like getting a golden ticket each time. I am amassing these treasures as I take stock of the little and the big milestones that you have passed, the physical and emotional breakthroughs, each happy time you spend with James and see his smile spread over that darling face, the liberation you feel after going to The Haven, even the celebratory tone to your descriptions of food. You allow us to vicariously live through moments that would seem ordinary otherwise but now become of the utmost significance.
So “sail on, silver girl.” We’re “sailing right behind” and blowing hard to keep your sails full. Don’t worry about what you can’t change and let others do whatever you don’t have to concern yourself with. Just concentrate on making yourself whole again in body, mind and soul.
Hugs and love, Chrissy