{"id":1001,"date":"2013-06-21T22:30:45","date_gmt":"2013-06-22T02:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/?p=1001"},"modified":"2013-06-23T21:19:18","modified_gmt":"2013-06-24T01:19:18","slug":"youve-been-my-shelter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/2013\/06\/21\/youve-been-my-shelter\/","title":{"rendered":"You&#8217;ve Been My Shelter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Life has become so normal so fast. A week  ago, Dr. Emans said that the outcome from Ben&#8217;s surgery was &#8220;phenomenal&#8221;. Ben no longer needs me, or anyone else, on a minute-by-minute or even hourly basis. So, I&#8217;m back to traveling, for work and sometimes for fun. But let me tell you about the first weekend in June.<\/p>\n<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\/\/ <![CDATA[\r\n(function(d, s, id) {\r\n  var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\r\n  if (d.getElementById(id)) return;\r\n  js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;\r\n  js.src = \"\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\";\r\n  fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\r\n}(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\r\n\/\/ ]]><\/script><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment1006\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/love-rocks-kripalu-june-2013.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment1006\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/love-rocks-kripalu-june-2013-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"The LOVE I&#039;ve been feeling, Kripalu, June 1, 2013\" title=\"The LOVE I&#039;ve been feeling, Kripalu, June 1, 2013\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1006\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/love-rocks-kripalu-june-2013-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/love-rocks-kripalu-june-2013-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/love-rocks-kripalu-june-2013.jpg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment1006\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The LOVE I&#039;ve been feeling, Kripalu, June 1, 2013<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I\u2019m driving down the Mass Pike, returning home after a weekend spent with my college roomie Laura at our nearly annual <a href=\"www.kripalu.org\">Kripalu<\/a> yoga and meditation weekend in the Berkshires. I have tears streaming down my face as I listen to all the best, and old, music on my iPhone blaring out at me through Bluetooth.<\/p>\n<p>The weekend rejuvenated me, as does any good weekend spent with a terrific friend. But it also gave me the space and time to relax and let the stress of the past months disappear in the sweaty yoga studios, in my gazes across beautiful lakes, in my walks through forest trails around Tanglewood and in the serene surroundings of the former monastery.<\/p>\n<p>As I&#8217;m listening to the Housemartins I realize that they are completely summing up for me how I\u2019ve felt about all the help, support, love, and wonderful wishes I received during the time leading up to, during and after Ben\u2019s spine surgery.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment1012\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/ben-pic-june-2013.jpg\"><img aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment1012\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/ben-pic-june-2013-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" title=\"Ben not missing me when I was away! June 1, 2013\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1012\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/ben-pic-june-2013-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/files\/2013\/06\/ben-pic-june-2013.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment1012\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ben not missing me when I was away! June 1, 2013<\/p><\/div>\n<p>I tried to reply with not very glamorous emails to everyone who reached out to us, but it hasn\u2019t felt like enough. Yet, I didn&#8217;t know how to put into a legible thank you note just exactly how your thoughts and gifts\u2014whether they were prayers, meals, cards, pictures, blankets, wine, books, magazines, balloons, coffee, cookies, toys, phone calls, emails, texts, Facebook posts, tweets, visits, gift cards or responses to my specific cries for help with Charlotte and Lucy\u2014have impacted me.<\/p>\n<p>I was lifted up and carried when I didn\u2019t think my legs could take me much farther. I was given a huge squeeze when I felt very alone. I heard your strong voices telling me we could get through this, and these voices erased all elements of self-doubt I was experiencing. And I&#8217;ll summon all of these gifts you&#8217;ve given me again for Ben&#8217;s next surgery, on October 17, and for many surgeries beyond.<\/p>\n<p>But let\u2019s have the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tUn82f1-RNg\">Housemartins<\/a> tell you what it was really like. You need to crank up the volume on this to get the right effect. And you have to imagine me, in my Volkswagen, alone, just past Northampton, listening to this song for the first time in a very long time, and hearing all of you say to me:<\/p>\n<p><em>In times when you\u2019re troubled<br \/>\nSeems more than you can afford<br \/>\nAnd you feel, you feel you need a friend<br \/>\nSomeone to share the load<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em>And when your skies grow cloudy<br \/>\nI want you to know got a friend that\u2019s true<br \/>\nJust like a shelter, in a time of storm<br \/>\nI\u2019ll see you through, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em>When your dreams are scattered<br \/>\nJust like the wind blown sand<br \/>\nAnd you feel, you feel you need a friend<br \/>\nI\u2019ll be there, reach out your hand<\/em><\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><em>And when the tempest is raging<br \/>\nI want you to know got a friend that\u2019s true<br \/>\nJust like a shelter, in a time of storm<br \/>\nI\u2019ll see you through, that\u2019s what I\u2019ll do<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\nI\u2019ll see you through your bad times<br \/>\nI\u2019ll see you through your fears<br \/>\nI\u2019ll see you through your hang ups<br \/>\nHoney I\u2019ll dry all your tears<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thank you, so much, for reaching out your hands. We couldn&#8217;t have made it through without you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life has become so normal so fast. A week ago, Dr. Emans said that the outcome from Ben&#8217;s surgery was &#8220;phenomenal&#8221;. Ben no longer needs me, or anyone else, on a minute-by-minute or even hourly basis. So, I&#8217;m back to traveling, for work and sometimes for fun. But let me tell you about the first [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2966,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[500,11811,5171],"tags":[477,4699,5175,7675,7587],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2966"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1001"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1025,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1001\/revisions\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/relwy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}