Year One...

For most of my life, I've kept a calendar.  It wasn't the kind that you tack to the wall or keep on your desk.  It was a delineation of time – kept privately in the heart – marking off the years my brother was missing.

After 22 years, I thought that it was something that I would have to live with and carry around with me for the rest of my life.  I was resigned to the fact that our family was broken and that there was a missing puzzle piece.  I had hope that maybe by some miracle, he'd return, but after over two decades of waiting, the odds weren't in our favor.  He was still gone despite all our hoping, wishing and praying.

But... last year, I got a phone call that changed all that.

I was sitting in the movie theater when I checked a message marked urgent.  The credits were rolling and Florence + The Machine's, "Breath of Life" was blaring loudly and aptly.  My head was spinning and it felt like I could finally take a breath, after holding it for years.

That's where the old calendar stops and a new one began.  Now I mark my time differently.  Our family is whole again and I count my blessings, not just days.  This is year one and I look forward to many more.