First, let me acknowledge: journaling is NOT my best spiritual discipline.

Today marks my five year Liver-versary! This is the BIG one. As each year turns into the next, I will of course be full of gratitude, awe, and deep appreciation for the gift of new and additional life.

But five years marks a different kind of stability. If you search different transplant centers and their outcomes, their numbers are reported based on the recipients who make it to the five year mark. At five years, conversation can be had about visiting providers every year instead of every six months. I’m virtually guaranteed to have some sort of skin cancer appear because of my transplant medications- but the experience of this is so much improved for those who don’t have any spots in the first 5 years. For my EHE visits too this marks an important moment. EHE can sometimes reoccur in a *transplanted* liver- and getting to the five year mark again makes long term outcomes so much better.

Most of those appointments for me are over the next few weeks, although my liver/transplant doctor appointment has been pushed out. Apparently Duke Hospital’s transplantation department is the fastest growing one by far! And, I’ve got the best doctor 😏 so I don’t mind the delay there.

I can’t wait to talk to Dr. Berg about the book Kevin and I listened to a few months ago: When Death Becomes Life. It is by a transplant physician who interweaves stories from his practice with the history of transplantation that makes it feasible to even measure those five-year outcomes. It’s well-written and interesting- especially for those like me with a science background.

The EHE Foundation’s slogan is: Just Live. I have lived SO much life in the past five years. The slogan bugs me though. I don’t want to just live- I want to THRIVE! I want life lived to the fullest extent possible. While I’m sure that’s what they really intended, I essentially think about words and deep meaning for a living.

On June 19, we finally had the WNCC’s Ordination service for those of us in the 2020 class and those in the 2021 class. It was as near-normal an in-person service could be at this point during the pandemic, and so wonderful. I wondered approaching this moment what or if I would feel as the Bishop placed hands on my head and prayed for me (along with my Dad and Mark Conforti- those Elders who have most championed and supports my call 💕).

What did I feel? The most concentrated sense of gratitude I’ve ever felt. I’ve had lots of moments of overwhelming gratitude- the kind that make your emotions erupt and you ‘well over’. This was different. It was almost like *I* was part of the central welling up water of a fountain. I simply responded: Thank you Jesus.

This journey of ordination, EHE and transplantation are intertwined. These past five years have been so swift, and so beautifully savory. I am full of gratitude and so let it flow: for the mysterious and beautiful history, technology, and above all the people & God that have brought me thus far, and will not leave me yet.