It Suits Me Just Right

Hey!

Well I was leafing through my writings and found this. I though that I'd posted this a few weeks ago, but I was wrong. So here this is!

May this make you think,

Jen

-

"Mac," I said, glaring at my little sister. "Would you please turn on something else? Something meaningful?"

She sighed, and turned off the pop music that blared through the truck speakers. "Is Lecrae alright?" 

I didn't really like rap, but Lecrae had good lyrics so I nodded my consent. Hearing the fast paced lyrics fly by helped me to re-focus my attention on the scenery. Utah was beautiful, and at times I could swear I was in Middle Earth. 

On the way to Bryce we had stopped in Virginia City, and toured a bit. The Mark Twain Museum, some shops, a pub, that sort of thing. The ride from Virginia City to Ely to Bryce was gorgeous of course, but rather devoid of life. 

Seriously, there was maybe four or five towns. That's it. Utah was pretty much the same as Nevada, except for the Middle-Earth-like aspect of it. 

Oh, I probably should have mentioned by now that I have never read the Lord of the Rings or the Hobbit. Yes, I know, but from all I've heard about it, Utah seems a lot like Middle Earth. 

Anyways, as I left the car, my legs sore and stiff from the hours scrunched up inside the van, I felt this  overwhelming need to hike up Inspiration Point. Bad idea. Very bad idea. 

Why? Because at 8,100 ft in the air, and climbing, my lungs wanted to burst. Mum and Mac were far below, waiting at the second viewpoint. 

"Mel!" I heard Mac's voice, but it sounded faint. "Don't climb to high!"

I shouted consent and kept climbing, my lungs hurting. But the view going up was what actually took my breath away. Glorious iron-oxidized (in case you didn't know, iron oxide is rust) limestone (so a rust-coloured limestone) rose into hoodoos and balancing rocks and caves. Forcing myself up the last fifty feet and across the trail, I almost dropped the camera. 

The dynamic shadows and rock formations shone in the last hours of sunlight. Immediately, I had forgotten about my lungs that were lacking air and my legs that moved like jelly. Just standing at this remarkable place made me feel...well, I don't have the words to describe what I felt. 

The formations were...immaculate, with features indescribable. "Mel!" My phone rang and I checked the text. "Come on down, the sun is setting." So I walked down, but gravity had other plans. 

Unused to hiking at high altitudes, my legs gave out under the pressure of gravity forcing me downhill. Bent at an odd angle, my legs were on fire, while one had bone sticking out and blood coming every where. "Oh Lord, not now, please not now!" 

Another hiker called the ambulance and I don't remember what happened next, all I remember is saying, "Lord, don't let me die."

I woke up in the hospital a day later, dazed and confused. "Mac?" I croaked out. "Mum?"

"I'm here Mel," Mac's voice came to my ears like a blessing in disguise. "Don't try to move, you broke your legs and lost a lot of blood. Doc said that your lucky to be alive, you lost so much blood."

I just wanted to hug God. I wasn't dead! And my family was well, well at least Mac was. "Hey Mac?" I asked after a glass of water slated my thirst. 

"Yeah Mel?"

"Where's Mum?" 

Mac looked down at her hands. "Mum, well, she, oh I can't!" And Mac, disregarding the tough tomboy that she is, broke down in tears. I moved my hand and placed it on hers, the only action of comfort I could force my weakened body to do. 

"Mac, what happened to her?"

Through choked tears, she answered. "Mum, when she saw you, well she had another heart attack. And after the last one being so close, well, Mel, she didn't make it." 

Tears were pouring down our faces. For so long it had been M cubed, Melissa, Mackenna, and Melody. Our dad had never been in the picture. My younger twin and I had never even met him before. Now, it didn't look like we'd have a choice. 

"Mac," I said in the tenderest voice I had. "Mamma's gone to be with Jesus. Why do you weep? Your not alone M, you still got me, and we can be M squared, just as we always have been. There is absolutely no reason to cry for her. She is in heaven."

Mac nodded and got ushered out by the doc who wanted to check me out after coming out of an apparently indefinite coma. I was fine, minus the two broken legs and oxygen that I needed to have for the next two months. 

Three months later, after rehab and oxygen, we were finally allowed to go back to Great Britan. And we were taken to meet dad.

Well, that's all I have to write now. Maybe I'll tell you about Dad when I can, but I'm still a bit weak. Mac has been brilliant about all of this, and I can't believe that God brought me through. I guess that near death experience made Him and I a lot closer, and my faith somehow stronger. 

And I thank God for every day in my life, because it suits me just right. 

Love you Gram,

Mel