[at-l] Happy Bracelet Freedom Day!!!!!!!!!

[tmcginnis@ucclan.state.in.us (Thomas McGinnis)]

     Yes indeedy doo, Folks! It's the 6th Bracelet Freedom Day!!!! Or for 
     those who like anniversaries, it's the 5th Annual Bracelet Freedom 
     Day!!! Ya-hoooo. Find someone you love (or find someone TO love) and 
     give them a MAJOR hug/kiss thing. That's what today is all about.
     
     (Wha'sat, Sloetoe? Wha's this "Bracelet Freedom Day???")
     June 11, 1994 is the day that Cole Thomas McGinnis came home from the 
     Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Saint Vincent's Hospital here in 
     Indianapolis. Cole and his brother Connor were born on April 23, but 
     Cole spent most of the next 7 weeks in a pharmaceutical coma fighting 
     respiratory distress (a self-reinforcing inflamation of the lungs 
     which easily kills new-borns). For that 7 week period, Dad, Mom, and 
     Connor all had to wear the identity bracelets which allowed access to 
     the NICU. (Cole was too sick to even have his put on, but on June 11, 
     we ceremoniously cut his off anyway...)
     
     On June 11, 1994, there was no more daily roller-coaster of death and 
     life, of whether or not Cole was going to survive, or when he would be 
     coming home. It was all definite, (and all very scary!), and Connor 
     and Cole (and Cole's monitors, and Cole's oxygen) were all coming 
     home. "Blessings" seems SUCH a poor descriptor to match the gifts of 
     the time....
     
     So here it is, 5 years later, and there's nothing to show of Cole's 
     traumas except for some scars and the occasional fit of heavy 
     breathing. A perfectly wonderful little boy, as is his supporting and 
     challenging brother Connor. They have more hiking miles on them than 
     most adults I know, and are ready (outside of certain current legal 
     wranglings) to throughhike the AT now -- they remind me of that almost 
     every time we talk. And like their Dad at that age, when we drive down 
     a woodsy highway, and pass some lonely opening for a forest road or 
     trail, they look out and say "Hey Daddy! Can we take THAT road next 
     time we're by here?" "Where does THIS one go? Can we find out?" From a 
     young, young age. Two WOODS BOYS!!!! TRAIL HOUNDS!!!!! DISCOVERERS!!!!
     
     So you all have a wonderful Bracelet Freedom Day. Take the wonders 
     life has offered, including your love for the out-of-doors, and hold 
     them close.
     
     Sloetoe'79
     Daddy to
     "When's the next rest stop, Gumby?"
     and 
     "When do we get to the car, Pokey?"
     also known as
     Connor
     and 
     Cole
     (And by the way, they really LOVE those names. They picked those names 
     themselves, and laugh infectiously whenever they're used.)
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