Thankful Guest Blogger ~ Karie

Like most of you, I have many things for which to be thankful. But the one thing for which I am most thankful it is not a THING at all. It’s my step son, Brandon.

You see, April 9, 2011 started out like any other beautiful Saturday. My husband and I had gone fishing on the Angelina River about 100 miles from our home. It’s very remote and cell phone signals rarely get through. So it wasn’t until late that afternoon on our way home that we finally got the message that our son had been in a serious accident. He was in critical condition as a result of a motorcycle crash and had sustained what we would later know is a traumatic brain injury.

He would spend the next five weeks in Neuro Intensive Care and surviving multiple brain surgeries to remove damaged tissue and blood clots. He would then be transferred to TIRR – the rehabilitation facility that you may recognize for treating Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford.

So what EXACTLY does all of this have to do with a blog on The Sage, you might be asking?

Well the good Lord knew what He was doing when He prompted me to place an order for a soap-making kit early in April. And, Him being God and all, He knew how much comfort I would take in learning to make soap. So it was no coincidence that two days after Brandon’s injury the package would arrive.

After it became clear that my step- son’s recovery would be measured in months and not days or weeks, I had to return to work while my husband stayed at the hospital bedside 3 hours away. Home alone after a long day at work, I lost myself in – you guessed it – soap making. The selection of fragrances and the choices of different oils. Finding a great lye calculator! (thank you Sage) Learning to swirl! Woo-hoo! It kept me sane. And let me feel a little bit of control at a time in my life when I most needed it.

Today, Brandon continues his recovery at home with his mother and has Outpatient Rehab therapy. We measure his progress by the new things he can do and do not focus on what he cannot. He’ll whip you at a game of dominoes, that’s for sure. And I continue to make soap. I have made approximately twenty five batches by now – some better than others as I am sure you can imagine.

So as we gather around our table this Thanksgiving, we think about how things might have ended very, very differently. And we are give thanks.

Karie Burnaman

Rapture Handcrafted Soaps