Mark returned silently to his seat at the back of the crowded convention room, trying very hard not to watch as all eyes in the room followed his every movement. He hated being the center of attention and this certainly had not been at all what he'd expected when he'd set out for the convention that morning. He watched as the four men, along with the young Aaron Carter took the stage for the final song of the evening. Silence fell throughout the room as the music began to play and Aaron began to sing...
To hear that song again, this time being sung in his daughter's honor, and by the very young man she'd given a huge part of her life to... it was amazingly touching and amazingly painful all at the same time. He'd dreamed of her wedding day and of walking her down the aisle when she was just a little girl... he thought maybe this felt a little bit like that might feel. He'd never been more proud in his entire life. His eyes filled with tears as Aaron's voice filled the room. He couldn't believe how incredible the young man looked for a kid who just a few short years ago had been dying of liver failure. He looked happy and healthy and far different from many of the transplant patients he'd come to know through his volunteer visits on the transplant ward. He took comfort in the knowledge that his Lauren had made it all possible.
Music gives you happiness and saddness,
Aaron closed his eyes up on the stage and sang with all of his heart, putting his entire soul into the song he was singing for the father of his hero. He couldn't believe he'd finally met the man whose decision to give so unselfishly was the only reason he was still alive. It was no small miracle. He'd been given days... only days to live and he knew that it had been a 'now or never' chance. A now or never, one in a million, this may not happen chance. Lauren Grant was his one in a million.
Let the music heal your soul,
He finished singing the song, tears spilling down his cheeks, his heart pounding, his entire body wracked with emotions.
He looked out across the room and locked eyes with Mr. Grant once more. No words needed to be said in that moment... it was all there in the eyes of the two men who'd been through so much. The eyes that showed the tears and the saddness, the joy, the laughter, the memories...
and most of all, the miracles.
Mark smiled as he glanced across the room at her picture on the wall... her bright green eyes shining like the sun, her smile as wide as the Mississippi River. He turned one last time to look at the young man on the stage and the peace that he'd come to know so often in the past three years found him once more.
His daughter was no longer just 'someone's' miracle...
Her miracles now had names and faces. They were people with hopes and dreams and just as much a reason to be alive and in this world as anyone else and they were only here now because of Lauren.
Stephanie, Amanda and Aaron...
Of all the dreams he'd had for his daughter as he'd watched her grow and become a young woman... of all of the plans he'd had for her life and the hopes he'd had for her future... this had never been anything he'd imagined.
He'd never imagined in all his life... in all her life... the beautiful miracle she'd one day become.
