Four years ago on Valentine’s Day morning, I was racing by ambulance to the nearest emergency room, after a sleepless night of dizziness and excruciating pain.  My children were only 4 and 1 and my husband of 5 years probably was having the biggest scare of his life.  None of us knew what was wrong; only that something was very wrong.  

Six hours later, I found myself semi-comatose, lying in a post-op recovery room, riding out the severe drug allergy from the anti-nausea medication.  I distinctly remember having belabored breathing and the sensation of drowning. The recovery was long and drawn out, and resulted in my staying in bed at home for nearly a month, unable to accomplish household chores, much less walk unassisted.  The nurses later told me I was very fortunate to have arrived at the hospital that morning; my condition was on the verge of becoming life-threatening.

Needless to say, when a young mother has this kind of harrowing life experience before age 30, her outlook on life is changed forever.  I, who rarely thought about my own mortality or my purpose became aware of life’s unpredictability.  Who was to say I had another 50 years, 25 years or even 2 years to live? I was now aware that my each day was a complete gift from my Maker and I wanted to live it deliberately.  Specifically, I didn’t want to take my time spent with my family for granted.  Realizing my daughter was to begin full-day Kindergarten in a just a few months prompted me to ask for the first time, “Is this really what I wanted for my family?”

And so… a mom who was fiercely opposed to homeschooling (“Those crazies are gonna ruin their kids!”) did a 180 and began her journey on a different path… not unlike Saul’s conversion while traveling on the road to Damascus.  Later that year, on a sunny September morning, instead of packing a lunch box, taking pictures, and waving a bittersweet goodbye, this mom invited her daughter to sit with her on the fuzzy green couch, armed with a sackful of good books, and opened to the first pages of My Father’s Dragon.