Sunday, April 11, 2010

Our House Guest

Our family has been in upheaval for a couple of months now. On top of the usual problems that just happen in a marriage and my husband and I trying to find our way back to each other, we have the added stressor of a house guest. A young man that my husband has been mentoring for about 4 years (both professionally and personally) was seriously injured the day before Thanksgiving. He fell in a stairway hole and fell 26 feet to the concrete basement floor, hitting scaffolding on his way down. MJ suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in a coma for about a week. That was in November. In January we opened our home up to him so that he could have some "supervision" and not have to live alone while he recouperates. MJ is still dealing with the residual effects of the head injury - mainly re-learning how to control the right side of his body. All the doctors have agreed - it's truly a miracle he survived the fall, let alone has made such great strides in his recouperation. But it is hard for him. He's 23 years old, can't drive, can't work, has to continue to take seizure medicine, has difficulty walking, can't live on his own. Each day is full of it's own trials and tribulations. It's been somewhat of a culture shock for all of us. It's a work in progress, trying to meld a young bachelor into a home with an "old" married couple and kids.

We came to a mutual decision this week. Since MJ moved in with us, he's been sharing a room with our 8 year old son, and our 2 year old daughter moved back into our room. We decided this week since we really don't know how long MJ will be with us to take one of our rooms upstairs, clean it out and utilize it for MJ. He is at the point that he can handle a flight of stairs, and would actually be good for him. We're hoping this will be a good transition for all of us. MJ will have his own space; our kids will go back to sharing a room; we can really transition our 2 year old to a bed of her own; and my husbad and I will have our own space once again - another step into us finding our way back to each other. So bring on the cleaning!

1 comment:

Tishia said...

A house guest can be stressful even when you're not having marital problems! That's great that you opened your home to this young man but at the same time it must be adding way more stress to the entire situation. I'll be praying for you guys.