The word in Kurdish for happy is ‘Dilkhosh,’ or ‘good heart,’ literally. I think it’s the perfect word to describe this picture. Mohammed has been extubated and is being weaned from a long bout with sedation.
There is a lot more going on in the background than this picture can capture. A few rooms over another Kurdish baby who in every way was dealing with all of the same struggles in recovery as Mohammed has been, and that child died this week. Mohammed’s mother was best friends with the mother whose baby died. The roads of their two boys diverged drastically in a matter of twenty four hours.
Maybe asking why one lived and the other died isn’t the right question. I don’t think there is an answer. We can trust God in all things. We can take the gift of life for Mohammed and continue to pray for his recovery.