Paint this picture in your head:

Imagine, it is cloudy outside, cool but not cold. Quiet with no one else around. A serene setting. You plan to take a walk while adding some jogging intervals. You start to jog. After a little while you start to walk again. Once you slow down, you notice you’re breathing heavily. But it feels different than it has in the past. A feeling you didn’t realize you were even missing. A feeling of your lower lungs filling with crisp, fresh air. You start to breathe deeply over and over again because you don’t want this astonishing feeling to stop. You then realize, maybe you better stop breathing so hard, you don’t want to start hyperventilating and end up passing out. But you can’t stop enjoying the amount of air you feel passing through your entire chest. You are having an epiphany.

I took this picture. It is from the boardwalk by our house where I was jogging with our dog Rosie. This is the view I was having during the moment when, for the first time, I felt my entire chest expanding. I didn’t want to forget what it looked like.

Everyday I honor my donor by putting my hand on my chest and taking a deep breath thanking them for this selfless gift. Thank you for these new pretty pink lungs. Thank you for allowing me to experience this epiphany.