Each year on June 20th, the days start to get darker and darker. Summer solstice sets the stage as the light begins to dim.
The light that represents life, happiness, hope and health.
But nothing last forever.
On December 21st, the darkest day of the year, a shift occurs. Winter solstice sets the stage for the light to begin to return. And slowly, day by day, everything become brighter.
Throughout our lives, we all experience our own personal summer and winter solstices. Our own periods of darkness and light. Our own challenges and joyous growth.
And for our family, the synchronicity of the solar system in our true life experience is absolutely extraordinary, or at the least mind-boggling.
Summer Solstice 2022 Begins
On June 20, 2022 our family returned home from a trip to Mexico. The day was full of light. But from this exact solstice day on… the darkness settled in. My husband left town and I remained at home with my four kids, desperately trying to try to figure out what was wrong with our youngest son. The next two weeks became a whirlwind of doctor appointments, hospitalizations, horrible tests, multiple sedations, surgeries, scans and ultimately - an extremely rare cancer diagnosis complicated by an additional lifelong rare disease diagnosis for my one and a half-year-old.
The solstice didn't just tap us on the shoulder… It knocked us so far down that the light seemed nonexistent. In the depths of the darkness, we did everything we could to seek even the smallest bit of light.
And when we didn't think things could get any darker… They did – just as the solstice works. Day by day darkness was brought upon us.
My vision of returning back to work was continuously pushed back as I realized the intensity of my sons care was more than a full time position. After months and months of chemotherapy instead of discovering positive results and healing… the scans showed five new tumors throughout my baby's body. There were endless nights of vomiting, worry, screaming, sickness and fear. We were all in a state of complete exhaustion.
Our days were dark and it was completely out of our control. So we leaned heavily into our faith as it was the only thing that provided light throughout this phase. It was in His hands and on His time.
But nothing lasts forever.
Winter Solstice 2022 Begins
On December 21, 2022, our family awaited the results of the scans my son had had the previous day. The day was dark... would the tumors have grown? Would we discover new masses? Was the aggressive chemotherapy he had been exposed to working?
And just as the winter solstice brings a shift towards light, so did this moment of our lives. On the 22nd, we met with our Texas specialist to learn that the chemotherapy was working and our son was healing.
Our lives entered a new phase of growing light.
That same light that represents life, happiness, hope and health.
Credit:
5am relavation of Caley Carroll on December 22, 2023