"pearl" in both the english and greek

hey guys! happy new year! i hope everyone is safe after all the frivolity of monday night!

i just got off the phone with my beautiful and talented dear friend, peggy. she's the real-life wonder woman (no kidding), for reasons i will explain in a few minutes. anyways, i told her i was going to write my first blog entry of 2008 about her, so here we go...

i love peggy for a million and one reasons. she and i can go for weeks without talking, then pick up the phone, and it's like we haven't missed a beat. she was available to me last summer during a crisis that no one else even knows about ~ i called her, broken and weeping, and she took me in for the evening. she just listened. and i needed someone to listen. there was no judgement. she simply made herself available. i will never forget that.

i'm not sure exactly HOW we became buddies. it just sorta happened. she was attending a small group at RVCC that i was leading (a looonnngggg time ago) and our relationship just took off from there. when she had isabella, i visited children's hospital frequently ~ bells was there for quite awhile ~ and i think our bond grew stronger during that time.

peg is a hygienist, which is a job i absolutely could NOT do. she is also scheduled to take her boards soon to be an anesthetist. oh wow...i couldn't do that either. she is married to a rotten, ornery, OSU buckeyes fan named mark, who just might be one of the most interesting guys to have a conversation with in the world. mark has taught me a ton of things, all from the scientific/male perspective, that are equally remarkable and hilarious.

peg has a son, grayson, who recently turned two and is a blue-eyed, handsome replica of his mama. he was just making animal noises for me on the phone, while i, instead, was trying to get him to say "go irish!" and "OSU, yuck!" it didn't work.

isabella is peggy and mark's miracle, their oldest child and amazing daughter. isabella has cfc syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that typically affects the heart (cardio-), facial features (facio-) and skin (cutaneous). bells (as she is also known) is one of approximately 100 individuals reported in the cfc literature. it is estimated that there are perhaps 200-300 people with cfc worldwide.

bells has been through it all. everyting from multiple surgeries to ensure proper drainage of fluid from the brain to her stomach, to open-heart surgery, and more. her poor little body has been through the unimaginable.

equally essential to isabella's story is peggy's fortitude and stamina and abounding love. for every struggle that bells has endured, there is peggy...not complaining, not feeling sorry for herself, not collapsing under what has to be the most profoundly heavy weight a mother could bear...fighting for her child's life. peg has always reminded me of this quote by agatha christie:

"A mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path."

before closing this post, i invite all of you to learn more about cfc syndrome by clicking on the link. you can also see the lovely miss bells' picture here; she is the cutie in the green top. (i think she secretly desires to be a fighting irish fan!)

the name "peggy" means "pearl" in both the english and the greek. how accurate. peggy is a pearl, a gem, a precious rarity who keeps shining, no matter what. she, mark, bells, and grayson deserve a year of good fortune, wonderful health, and abundant blesssings. my prayer is that they overflow with all three.