The Heart of a Whale

I haven't talked much about heart stuff lately. Frankly, I don't have much to talk about. Heart disease is so normal to our family now that I sometimes forget that it's not everyone's normal. Plus, Everett is doing awesome lately (phew) and I might as well not worry about future children's hearts until we are blessed with future children (ha, sounds easy, right?)

 

That being said, there are moments that I'm reminded of Everett's special heart and I have to breathe really deeply and tell myself that no, it's not a dream and yes, there is a plan. I had one of those moments this week in the Natural History Museum. We were in a special exhibit about whales, and wouldn't you know there was a huge section about the heart. It was incredibly interesting. {Like, did you know that the heart of a blue whale is the size of a car? A car, people!} 

 

The mere presence of the heart did not invoke the mad-rush of emotion, Evie's fascination with said heart did.  I guess I should mention that this scale-version of a blue whale's heart was the perfect jungle gym for an active 2-year-old, but I think there was more to it than that. Everett kept saying, "Dis da whale's spesho heart. Evie has a spesho heart." and then he would go inside, sit by himself and listen to the beating of the whale's heart. He stayed in that heart for what seemed like forever, sitting silently, with only the thump-thump, thump-thumps as his companion. I'm shocked he didn't pull up his shirt and show anyone his scar, he's known to do that when folks are conversing about their tickers, but he was still, almost reverent, as he felt the beats of that beast.

 

And my heart was thump-thump, thump-thumping too because boy do I love that kid. I love his special heart (though heaven knows I would do anything for it to have been perfect from the start) and I hope he always knows how amazing and strong we think he is. I pray that he always loves his "spesho heart" as much as I do. 

 

really awful pictures that technically were not supposed to be taken at all, I learned from the kind and patient guard after trying to get a good shot for at least 5 minutes. whoops! and yes, unfortunately these were the best I got.