Tuesday, October 11, 2005

Counting my blessings

I just spent 1/2 hour writing an entry that Blogger annihilated. Ugh. Before I go on, 1 more complaint about Blogger...what's up with the word verification? I mean, why do they have to make it so difficult? And why stick a slanted 'm' by a slanted 'n' or a 'v' next to a 'w' when the letters are almost touching? Sometimes I have to try 3 times before I get the letters right. I've written to them about this as it's really frustrating if you have any sort of sight problem. Enough about that...

Ever since I began blogging, I've considered myself fortunate to have the group of blogger friends that I do. Yes, I call you friends even though we've never met in person. But now, I consider myself so beyond fortunate, I don't even know the word for it. Having some place safe, somewhere that I know I can be real & that I'm not going to get ridiculed, is immeasurable right now. Your support is what's literally holding me together at times. So, to each of you, please accept an extremely grateful 'thank you'. I consider myself more than fortunate, I consider myself blessed for your friendship.
When I wrote my previous entry, it was in the middle of the night, before I went to care for my aunt. Fortunately, by morning both my migraine & tearfulness was gone. Last night my migraine was back full force, but I can deal with this at nights. As long as I'm okay when I go to Aunty's.
I spent about 4 hours with my aunt yesterday. Her new doctor, a young Vietnamese gentleman, came to see her & spent over an hour answering all of her questions. He can't be more than 27 or so, and is in his last year as an intern (?). It's been my experience that these are the best physicians to have. They are full of the newest information and are enthusiastic. He made a few adjustments with her medicine & said the 6 month estimation is pretty accurate.
When he was leaving, my aunt who was sitting in her recliner, put her arms out to hug him. I could tell no patient had ever done that. As they hugged, she kept thanking him & he seemed almost speechless, but then I heard him whisper to her, "God bless you."
Even though Aunty tires easily, she talks to me about lots of things. She knows that I love to hear stories of my ancestors and her life. Yesterday, she was telling me that even though she'd lived most of her life in East L.A., her first trip to the beach wasn't until she was 14. It wasn't with her family, but with some neighbors who were going. For some reason, she says, she fell asleep on her stomach & when she woke up she couldn't move as she was severely sunburned. To this day she avoids direct sunlight as much as possible because of her memories of that beach trip.
She also told me that one of her favorite movies was "Fried Green tomatoes", but she called it "Green Fried tomatoes". She remembers every detail of the movie & although I've never seen it, I'll try to rent it so I can watch it soon.
After talking about this, she told me she was too tired to talk anymore. With that, she closed her eyes & dozed off in her recliner. I couldn't help but notice how beautiful & peaceful she was as she slept.

I'll write more on this soon..

posted by jane at 2:42 PM