The Green Bird of Happiness: Grace.

Grace Sterling Silver Pendant from Fumiye's Etsy Shop

Years ago, I fell in love with two singer/songwriters, Don Conoscenti and Christopher Williams. I love both of these men for different reasons, but they are both amazing songwriters and storytellers. Each has a song that talks about grace. Before hearing these songs, grace was a word that I heard in church as a kid but didn't give much thought to. Through song, and the stories told by Don and Christopher, I've spent time over the years pondering the word and thinking about the beauty of it. It's really a powerful word. It's even more stunning when you experience it in your life. It can bring you to your knees.

I experienced grace several times over the past week.

Last Wednesday, Heather wound up in the hospital...in the ICU to be more specific. The first 48 hours were terrifying. We've been so fortunate to be overall healthy people. Neither of us has ever been admitted into a hospital. So as ER doctors were trying to explain what was going on, and while we were trying to absorb the information as best as we could, we both were freaking out. We didn't talk about the freaking out parts too much as we didn't want to freak the other person out even more. We were freaked out for many reasons, but one of the largest parts of the whole ordeal for me was fear. What if something happened to her? I did my best to keep the 'what if' bugs at bay, but they crept in every now and then. I'm not going to lie - I didn't always handle it well.

Colbalt on Aqua Rustic Nature Herb of Grace Necklace in UnaOdd's Etsy Shop

But thankfully, we have some pretty amazing people in our life. Family, friends, co-workers, and bosses. They listened. They told me that things were going to be ok - even though none of us knew what was going to happen. They helped me plot out my next 24 hours when I couldn't figure out to do with my next 5 minutes. They offered to help. They brought food. They helped clean our house. They took care of Emily. The sat by my side and distracted me with silly stories about kids, work and anything else that we could come up with. They visited and called and texted and facebooked and checked in and let me know they were there - over and over and over again. They let me know that I was loved. They let us know that Heather was loved. They let us know that Emily and Felicia, us, all of us - as we were, imperfect, sick, scared and freaked out - we were all loved. The showed us grace. Openly. Freely. Lovingly. Beautifully.

Heather is recovering now. She's home and normal life is finding us again.

There were moments when tears came to my eyes throughout those 5 days (and still come), but they weren't always because I was scared. Sometimes those tears came out of awe and love and feeling like I could never find the right way to say thank you for all of the things big and small that were done for us. On Christopher William's album, The Silence in Between, he has a song called, Daughter's Eyes that makes me tear up a little each time I hear it. The chorus is the closest I can get to articulating how I feel: