He did it!

I am so proud of him and relieved we made it to this day!!!!

There were moments of doubt, moments of am I going to make it there for this event?

But we made it, Joshua's journey effects so many lives...it really is a family journey when your child is wounded in war...today it is about his youngest brother and his part of the story...a tale of a young man whose eldest brothers injury took his family apart in different directions for a year and a half. His father had to continue work as a truck driver which left him gone all week, home a day and a half each weekend. His mother was gone completely to be at his brothers side, and here was Michael...the ultimate "Home Alone" kid...

At home alone in Michigan and yet not alone, he had three dogs the two Black lab/beagle mixed "Snickers" and "Buddy" the half German Shepard/Collie Mix "Scrappy-Doo", two cats the Black and White "Angel" and the Siamese "Merlin", as well as one ferret "Snowball"....by the time mom came home one dog and the ferret would have passed on to Fur Butt Heaven...leaving him "Home Alone" to hold pet funerals...each morning he got himself up and ready for school, he tended to the animals needs, left the house two way on the cell phone as he walked down the drive way to await the school bus talking to his mother as she was heading into the hospital to begin her day at his brothers side in Virginia.

He attended classes, went to lunch, updated teachers and friends when they asked about his brothers condition and tried to concentrate on learning during good news, and during bad news, but always with the knowledge that their lives were changed forever. The brother who had always been the strong hero, was now in a battle for his life, it would never be the same life again. Hang out with friends, go to lunch, sometimes sneak in a two way to check how is Joshua doing...go back to classes, ride the bus home...home to 15 acres of silence...two way mom again, speak to Joshua and get the current update of the day on how it went while he was in school...make something to eat, tend to the animals, either go visit Levi his friend from school, or go to bed for a few hours and hide from the world...some days it was mow the grass, get up watch some TV, call mom and talk to her as she drove home, talk to her while she made dinner or ate the dinner they may have stopped and grabbed on the way home...watch a TV program together, read a book together, do homework...sometimes just sit in silence together but always with the connection of the cell phone...3-4 hours later it would be time to say good night, and take a shower go to bed...start the new day over with the same routine...

Michael's day arrives, he made it; he is not at the top of his class more the bottom, but he arrives to the finish line, looks to his left as he walks onto the football field in his cap and gown and there sitting in his wheelchair is his hero. His big brother Joshua along with his fiancee, the nurse for the day and his mother home at last... home to be a part of this event...his father is there behind them in the crowd somewhere cheering him on...Michael is a year behind his class...but his friends came back, the friends who graduated the year before and consoled him with being held back a year, that if he had graduated on time with his class mates. Neither his mother or eldest brother would be able to be there to see him. Those friends came back and from the stands when his name is the last to be called, they erupt in cheers for him as he walks up to receive his diploma...his mother cries of course because, well, that is what mothers do at these milestone moments in their childrens life... his brothers fiancee Heather screams loudly over the crowd and from his wheel chair with a huge grin on his face, pride in his youngest brothers accomplishment beams from Joshua's face, as his youngest brother takes the day to be the Hero to many there in the crowd...