Another Special Gift

After my third year in college our Parents took six out of the eight children to through France. We went to see many wonderful sites in France like the Eifel Tower and sailed  down the Seine River on a dinner cruise. We saw such sites as the original “Lady Liberty”, and a very picturesque view from the Notre Dame basking in the glow of lights on this view from the river.

     We made many stops in France. The most memorable one was the city of Lourdes.  On this trip we did lots of camping. We were at a campsite across the river that faced Lourdes.  We saw hundreds of people with all kind ailments passing by on the streets of Lourdes all in hopes of being cured of their particular illnesses. It was an awesome site. We all looked forward to being blessed by the holy water. I in particular.

     Since I had eepilepsy most of my teenage life and through my early twenty's, I really looked forward to be blessed. I hoped to ask for a blessing from God to rid me of these “blackouts”. I knew they were petite mal or absent seizures. They lasted anywhere from ten to tthirty seconds.

             I had a restless sleep that night, seconds I woke up looking forward in receiving a blessing by the holy water. As we approached slowly to the grotto, I felt very insecure and selfish for requesting a cure from these seizures. I saw many people in wheelchairs, on gurneys, or using crutches seeking the same thing as I. . . "a cure." As I went through the line to the grotto where the water flowed, I asked for God's help and a blessing from the Virgin Mary to rid me of these seizures. Little did I know that my brothers and sisters and our parents made the same special request.

       

       I had no idea that it had worked until about a year later after my birthday. I had gone without a spell for over a year.  When I told Papa that it had been over a year since I had a seizure. Papa didn’t believe me until I showed him a special calendar, which had evidence of No seizure activity.  My boyfriend and the visit to Lourdes were the reasons for me being seizure free for the rest of my life.