I am sitting on my friend’s couch. Aside from being super impressed with her complete collection of Worldbook, I’m falling in love with her cat. I think s/he is worn out from all the purring.
S/he is obviously a naturally social cat although I think she appreciates me a lot more then she would if I’d come over to see her on a day when her family is home. They’ve been alone so long. Their family will be back soon and, likely, the next time we meet, I won’t be so interesting.
It is amazing how our perspective (read level of gratitude) changes when we are without. My friend, Amy is learning this anew. Different Amy than the two I wrote about the other day, I am fortunate to have many Amy’s in my life. As I type this, she is sitting in a hospital waiting room trying desperately to understand the latest medical adventure to enter her consciousness. There is NOTHING like an ER waiting room to help you to gain perspective.
I recently rushed a loved one to the ER. We were there for four hours, and left before they were seen, when it became crystal clear that, despite the amount of pain they were in, there were PLENTY of folks worse off. I spent some time writing,
In my journal, I wrote: “This place! Man, if anyone needs material, they could sit in an ER!” And, among other things: “The couple in the lobby, the woman has a neck brace on, she is teary and seems cagey around the man who is with her, who seems to be her partner, and also like he might have something to do with the reason they are here.”
I was surprised when I opened my journal to this entry. I wrote in pencil the night we were at the hospital. Even as I type this, I can picture WHICH pencil I wrote it with. I then came back later and wrote this in ink: “second chakra, pleasure, enjoyment and connection to others” It was written in the margin next to the word “kidney”. My loved one’s KIDNEY turned out to be the reason we’d come to the ER in the first place.
*carpe diem*
Collecting Pieces of Me 