Miracle on Main Street USA

mir·a·cle
ˈmirək(ə)l/
noun

a surprising and welcoming event that is not explainable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency. 

My most memorable, recollected use of the word “Miracle” was during the 1980 Olympics. Al Michaels of ABC Sports, with only 2 seconds left on the clock, shouted, “DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES?” as the under-dogged USA defeated Russia for the Olympic Gold Medal in Hockey. 

There was a three-act play, “The Miracle Worker” by William Gibson based on Helen Keller’s autobiography, “The Story of My Life”  which premiered in 1962.

Of course, you have all seen the  Christmas classic (1947), and re-make (1994), of the movie, “Miracle on 34th Street.”  

(Now you know where I got my inspiration for the title of this blog post)

OK, enough about all of that.

If you haven’t read my 2 previous blog posts, you may want to read them. Doing so may give you better insight to understand what has been going on with me. 

In case you don’t want to go back, here’s a very quick recap:
I woke up on the morning of February 5th unable to speak. Not from laryngitis but something that was Alzheimer’s related. I spent the next 2 1/2 weeks struggling to find my voice but, was unsuccessful.

That should bring you up to speed.
In between the 2 1/2 weeks with no voice, Shannon and I celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary. We both made each other handmade cards and went out to dinner.

I’ve always prided myself on being creative and was very satisfied with the card I made for Shannon. However, on this Anniversary, she went all out.

I will share a quote from her letter:

“You are my husband, my best friend, the ying to my yang, my partner in life.
My gift to you this year is memories . . .
So, Brian LeBlanc, you made it through 9 years of marriage . . . What are you going to do now???

“YOU’RE GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!!!” We leave in 7 days!
Being that I couldn’t talk, I let my tears do the talking. 
She knew what I needed and she knew where I needed to be.
She was hoping and praying for a miracle.

We didn’t tell anyone where we were going and being I couldn’t speak made it kind of easy for me to comply. I even had to remind myself NOT to post anything on Social Media. (I used sticky notes on my desk to remind me.) We wanted it to be just about us . . . a change of scenery to our favorite place turned out to be just what we both needed.

 

I should have known something was up when, on our way to Orlando, “Brown Eyed Girl” came on the radio. I sang every word of the song. I still couldn’t speak at the time, but I sang that song. It was such an appropriate moment, for when I was with the band “Mass Kunfuzion”, every time I sang that song, I dedicated it to Shannon. So there we were, rolling down the Interstate, on our way to the “Happiest Place on Earth”, and I’m singing to my wife. 

Sunday was our first visit to the Magic Kingdom. It was like re-visiting an old, familiar friend. Although we were surrounded by tens of thousands of people, a sense of peace came over me.  I know it sounds strange but if you’ve read my previous posts where I speak of Disneyworld, it should come as no surprise as to how I was feeling.

 

The following is my own recollection of what happened on February 19th, 2017, that “Miraculous Sunday.” I’m sure Shannon, with her crystal-clear memory recall ability, could fill in the gaps, but this is what I remember.

As it was nearing the time for the fireworks show, I said something. What I said, I have no idea. (Up to that point I was only able to say very few, single words. The rest of my communication was conveyed by using a whiteboard and a text to speech app)

Shannon turned to me and said, “What did you say?”
I think I shrugged my shoulders.
She said, “you just said a complete sentence!”
I thought she may have heard someone nearby and only THOUGHT it was me.
She told me again, “you said a complete sentence!”

Even though I couldn’t remember, not only what I said, but couldn’t remember saying anything at all, I remember feeling very warm.

Then the fireworks started.

I remembered distinctly what came next.
I heard the words, “Oh my God, that is so beautiful!” come out of my mouth.
I immediately turned to Shannon and she was smiling the biggest smile I have ever seen.
She said, “You did it again. YOU TALKED!”
I replied in a very tearful voice, “I KNOW!” 

Again, I felt a burst of warmth spread over me.
I knew something had just happened. I didn’t quite understand what happened, or why it happened, but it happened. We just held each other and it was like no one else was around. 

(the photo below was taken immediately after the fireworks while I was still experiencing unexplainable moisture flowing from my eyes. I think I was still in shock as to what just happened.)

Why my speech returned at that precise moment still befuddles me.
Did a miracle just happen?
Contrary to popular belief, miracles do happen.
Shannon and I firmly believe this was a miracle.

It didn’t happen slowly, it was all of a sudden like a switch was turned from off to on. I don’t think I have stopped talking since then. When I’m at home and no one is around, I talk to Dallas. He’s an excellent listener and never, ever disagrees with what I’m saying.

For those of you that have known me for many years know that I love to talk. My family knows that I love to talk. For them, I’m sure it was sort of a vacation for them to not have to hear me talking non-stop about everything and anything. They are, however, thankful and relieved that I can speak once again because they know how lost I was without my voice.

Shannon and I kept the news of the return of my speech to ourselves. We told no one.
The reason being, we didn’t want to say “HEY!!! I CAN TALK AGAIN!!!” and the next day, or 2 days later, my voice disappeared again. So, we were overly cautious. Also, I didn’t want to give anyone false hopes, especially Shannon. So, we remained quiet. 

Imagine what it was like. Here I was, not able to speak for 2 1/2 weeks and all of a sudden, I could speak again, but I had to keep it on the down-low. So, what did I do? I talked to everyone in Disneyworld. It didn’t matter who they were or whether they understood English. I talked and talked and talked.
I think, by the time we were packed up and headed back home, Shannon was probably afraid I was going to talk her ear off. But I didn’t.
So, here I am, able to speak again, and “miraculously” feeling a bit more clear-minded. Maybe I’m imagining it or maybe it’s real. I don’t really care. 
I’m just going with how I feel.

 

Needless to say:

• I will never forget how Walt Disneyworld makes me feel
• I will never forget how Walt Disneyworld made me feel as normal as I could feel
• I will NEVER forget the Miracle on Main Street USA on Sunday, Feb 19, 2017.

Lastly, as far as believing in miracles, well . . . Shannon and I are TRUE BELIEVERS!

Until Next Time,
PEACE!
B