Half a Year.

Its been almost half a year since my sis had her back and wrist broken in an incident of domestic violence. The ex boyfriend who roughed her up, finished his brief sentence and we assume has gotten on with his life. Thank fully he seems to be abiding by the no contact order.
For those of you who are regular reads here, you will know that she has been living with me since her discharge from the hospital at the end of July.
She has come along way, through hard work, determination and her strength of character. Her back is healing nicely according to the surgeon. She no longer needs to wear her body brace. On her last visit to the orthopedic surgeons on Wednesday, she was told that she will not be going back to work for at least another 6 months. She knew she still had a ways to go, but was surprised that it would actually be a year minimum to recover. She misses work, worries that when she does return, that she will be out of touch. Its a highly technical job she does, with constant changes.
until she gets back to work and receiving a full paycheck again, she wont be able to afford to get back into her own place. As much as she appreciates having a place to stay with us, its still not her own house. She longs to set up her own kitchen and have all her own things about her, instead of in a storage locker. Her kids come over on the weekends and have to sleep on the Hide a bed. They don't have their own room with their own toys and treasures here. She misses that too. Although they do still have their own room at Daddys place, she wants that for them where she is too. She is missing so much. The man (if you can call him that) who brought this upon her has robbed her of so many things. Little daily comforts that we all to often take for granted.
So, although she has to regroup and continue to put some parts of her life on hold, it has caused her to appreciate just what she had before.
There are some things, no matter how hard some one may try, that can't be taken from you. He couldn't make her give up on life. He couldn't take away the stubborn streak. He couldn't rob her of her strength and determination. He may have beaten her down and made her question her value as a human being. But he was never able to extinguish the spark that burns in her heart. That spark is LOVE. Love of life. A small spark that wouldn't let her stop fighting back. She fought back against her aggressor, wouldn't let him kill her as he said he was going to that night six months ago. She fought back from serious injuries, and continues to do so. Most of all she fought back from a life of hell, whose pain could only be numbed by drugs.
Sure the road back continues to stretch out before her. But she's traveling in style, motoring along with a renewed love for what matters.
she's free. And as she travels down that road, she will enjoy the trip, trusting in herself and in a higher power. She survived that night for a reason. Maybe its not clear now why all this happened, but some day it will be.