Two Weeks After The Fall

One day you come home from work, go to bed at your usual time, wake up in the middle of the night for a restroom visit, and fall.  You know you have internal bleeding. It's 2:30 AM. You hurt terribly. But, though you are usually an intelligent person, you don't call 911. You decide you will wait till daylight and drive yourself to the emergency room. You are wrong. You will be too weak to drive.

It is two weeks later. You are recovering. The surgeon (one of them) said the operation would be a case study if he would submit it. (You wonder if you could get any money if he did so.)

Random Thoughts You May Have Had

• You wish you had started the dishwasher
• Don't those nurses know you don't want to give them blood in the middle of the night?
• Don't those nurses know all that beeping keeps you awake?
• Did one of your bosses show up just to make sure you were really in the hospital?
• Why do they bother giving you beef broth? They could just pour it out and keep from washing a bowl.
• Some people drive a long way to see you. A looong way. They stay several days, then they take you home. They pick up your prescriptions and leave your cash buried in the bag. You are loved.
• Someone whose back is hurting spends a night in your room among the beeping beeping beeping. And then comes back every single day. You are loved.
• Someone else drives a loong way, and spends another couple of days with you when you go home. You are loved.
• Someone else gets a ride to see you, and spends a whole week with you, and cooks for you, and keeps the flowers watered, and wants to be there just in case. You are loved.
• Flowers and/or balloons arrive from (or are delivered by) people who love you.
• Flowers arrive from people you didn't know even like you.
• You get cards and calls (and rainbow roses) from some people you didn't know even thought of you as a friend.
• You are thankful, oh so thankful to God, for skilled surgeons, a speedy recovery, and so much love.
•  You keep reminding youself that no day can be taken for granted. It can change with just one step.

The Jar of Peaches

...but over all, rocks, wood, and water, brooded the spirit of repose, and the silent energy of nature stirred the soul to its inmost depths.
     Thomas Cole - Essay on American Scenery

Do you own something you really like, but you're not quite sure just why?

A few years ago I found a pale green jar at a flea market and bought it for two dollars. I'm not sure whether it was used for canning or for storage, but it has the rubber seal and the metal hinge like the jars which were used for those purposes.

Would you think it odd if I told you that something about this jar mellows my mood? When I open the cabinet and reach for it, you would think I was lifting a great treasure. I'm sure I don't actually smile, but I get a cozy feeling --not unlike the comfort of wearing soft, furry socks on a cool February night.

Some mornings I cook oatmeal -- either the "old-fashioned," which takes five minutes, or the "steel-cut oats," which take thirty. I usually add raisins during the cooking process, because I like the way they plump up in the water. When the oatmeal is ready to eat, I don't add butter or milk, but I do add about a teaspoon of brown sugar. The brown sugar is stored in the green jar.

I realized early on there was something about the jar that made me feel happy, and decided maybe it was the color. I set out for another flea market, on a quest for a pale green bowl to complete the breakfast experience. I found a pretty one with a subtle design around the edge, so I bought it for four dollars, and looked forward to breakfast the next morning.

It was disappointing. The bowl just didn't provide any extra measure of satisfaction. Maybe it was because it was not of the same era. Maybe it was because it was a contrivance instead of happenstance. Or maybe, it has to do with the person who used to own the jar.

I am not superstitious. I believe things are only things, and have the meanings we ascribe to them. I also leave room for recognition of  the mysteries of energies all around us. Who hasn't had the experience of energies, such as when walking into a room and sensing that something is wrong, even without having seen or heard anything?

But what I like to imagine is the possibility that one day, a prayer was prayed that went something like "...and may whoever uses this humble jar, though it be only a glass vessel, be blessed, O Lord.  Our possessions may be few, but our lives are rich. Amen."

Yes. This is the way I like to imagine it. I think of a petite, strong woman who grows a vegetable garden.  Her husband raises chickens and cows and hogs. They live modestly, but happily. And they go to church on Sundays. Then one day, when she was filling her canning jar with peaches, she was inspired to say "...and may whoever uses this humble jar, though it be only a glass vessel, be blessed, O Lord..."

I can't really know why I am affected by this object of glass the way I am. But I know that I am blessed. I know my life is rich. And I am thankful. Amen.

Things To Be Thankful For When You Have The Flu

Things To Be Thankful For When You Have The Flu

• Kleenex with Aloe -- the nose becomes sore during these bouts. I always feel sorry for children when they have a cold and we must wipe their noses. This reminds me how it must hurt them.
• Hot tea -- (Dear L., During times like these I use a teabag. I know you are appalled!)
• Gingerale -- No ice. I'm already cold enough.
• A long, comfortable robe -- the black, velvety one with the burgundy collar and cuffs. It's at least ten years old, but sometimes we just need the familiar tried and true.
• A big quilt--any will do, as long as it is heavy and I can toss and turn without getting uncovered.
• Campbells Chicken Noodle Soup -- I know how to make homemade soup, but at times like these, Campbells suits me just fine. And who would feel like cooking? More of the familiar.
• Nyquil -- Night-time. Even in the daytime.
• The sympathetic ear of the person I called to say I had the flu. (Thank you J. )
• Knowing that by tomorrow, I will be better.