During my run yesterday I listened to Jimmy Buffett’s Wondering Where the Lions Are three times. Each time I heard the line, “One of these days we’re going to sail away, going to sail into eternity, some kind of ecstasy’s got a hold on me, and I’m wondering where the lions are” I thought about this image of Teddy, wearing his Lion King life jacket, sailing on Biscayne Bay. The combination of the song, the endorphins from the run and the thoughts of Teddy all felt so very good.

This photo was taken in March, 1995. Teddy was three and we were right smack in the middle of a nine month journey that resulted in his diagnosis of Asperger’s.

It was a turbulent time. Teddy was struggling, I was pregnant and we so desperately wanted answers to the millions of questions we had concerning our first-born.

But in this moment, out on a sailboat, in the middle of the bay, on a warm Miami spring day, all of my fears, all of my worries just faded away. Teddy was so full of bliss. So beautiful.

You know how sometimes in the midst of the storm, you receive some kind of hint that feels as comforting as a soft-spoken whisper in your ear, or a tender squeeze on your shoulder, or a pause that let’s you catch your breath, and because of that hint you just know in that magical way you can know, that the universe is telling you it will all be okay. This image captures my reassuring whisper.

Yesterday, almost 18 years later, I ran several miles with the memory of this moment filling my head and overwhelming my heart. And just as Jimmy sang, some kind of ecstasy indeed had a hold on me.