March 6, 2012

In about 9 hours it will have been exactly a year ago that I received that fateful call. I remember it vividly, in that I was dressed to go to work (it was the first day of a new position) and I was feeling really good. I was standing in my kitchen and Linda was down in the garage with the day care kids who had just arrived (the garage was converted to a large play area for the kids). The phone rang and I answered in my happy voice, feeling like everything was going in the right direction, finally; then the caller said, "Is this the parent of Sgt. Jason Ross?" I immediately didn't like what I was hearing and slightly hesitated and said, "Yes, I'm his father." When he told me that Jason had been significantly injured my knees almost buckled. I quickly went out to the garage and got Linda's attention. Fortunately there were only two kids at this point so it was relatively easy for the two of us to sit down, at the table and listen to the call, on speaker. The Gunny began to tell us about some of Jason's injuries, and let us know that they were working to get him stable and that they would be in contact with us with updates, once they had them. We were to receive calls at least three times a day, and we did. It was probably the worst two days of our lives, not knowing what was going on, other than what they were telling us over the phone.

Fast forward to today and Jason is now doing so much better, though he is still far from being recovered. There is now another group of medical folks who are working to figure out what it is they need to do, to give him back some quality in his life. I provided them with some requested information today and they will be meeting on Friday to see if there is more they should be doing, or can do. We will hear the result next week, and we'll know more about some of the "next" steps Jason will be able to take on this journey we are on.

Today ended on a positive note, with a visit from Katie, of Marine Moms, out of Bethesda. She came out to visit with her sons, one of whom is headed off to Afghanistan, and got in contact with me. She asked if she could come over and visit with us, as she would really like to see Jason. Of course I said it would be great to have her come over, and then she took us out to dinner. The girls enjoyed her visit (especially since she brought them gifts... ;-))and this allowed Katie to see just how big the girls have grown, since she saw them in Bethesda. About the only thing that wasn't aligned was that Linda wasn't here, and Katie and Linda did seem to hit it off really well when they were in Bethesda. Anyway, the visit was nice and I did get a few pictures (I'll post tomorrow), so any of the rest of you, who might happen to come out this way, please let me know, we'd be happy to see you too.

Thank you all, for all the continued support and prayers for Jason and the family. We have been challenged, big time, yet we have also been able to see some blessing out of all this, and will continue to work to make Jason's life a happy and strong one.