Monday, July 18, 2011Tonight's picture was taken in June of 2007. This was once again during our Lancaster, PA trip. My most recent blog pictures have focused upon that trip. It didn't take us long to plan this trip, which for me was unusual. Since I research everything I do before doing it! I have lived my life planning everything, even vacations. Down to the details on what we should visit and where we should eat. I am a creature of organization and I do not like surprises. Peter is a bit more free flowing and likes adventure. So the Lancaster trip was a bit of both, and I found it was the things we did not plan that were actually the most memorable. Like finding a trampoline in the middle of a field while driving along the road (I posted that picture a few days ago)!
Quote of the day: Sorrow makes us all children again - destroys all differences of intellect. The wisest know nothing. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some days I wake up and I realize I feel a bit lost. On those days, I know I definitely need to walk. However today was as hot as blazes in Washington, DC. Needless to say, I was still outside and walked over three miles. After which I worked in the garden. Peter and I joke all the time because he can weather the cold and I can weather the heat. Together, we have all climates covered!
Peter was up before 5am to get to the airport to head to Seattle. He has got to be so confused time wise and tired. Nonetheless, he sent me pictures of Pike's Place in Seattle and gave me updates about his day. Of course my two days of living with a calm and happy cat have come to a screeching halt now that Peter is gone again. Patches is howling at me as I am typing tonight's blog. She is pining for Peter and is waiting by the front door for him.
Later on today, I went to visit Mary, Ann's mom. We had a good conversation with each other. I have noticed at around 4:30pm each day, we get a visit from another resident who has befriended us, Catherine. Catherine spent over 30 minutes in Mary's room tonight. She needed a friend and wanted to talk with Mary and I. The isolation of living in a facility can be very challenging, especially when you do not have family and friends around to visit you and provide companionship. Catherine is the type of person who other residents in the facility turn to for help and to talk to, however, that leaves Catherine without someone to share her thoughts and feelings with. She asked me whether I thought her wining meant that she was selfish. My response was NO! I told her she was HUMAN. We all need an outlet, someone we are close to, who genuinely wants to connect with us and share our feelings. I feel for Catherine and through this conversation Mary was listening intently and at times said she could relate. I am absolutely thrilled that Mary and Catherine have this connection, because it helps to know that you are not alone, that your feelings are shared by someone else, especially a person living under the same circumstances. Needless to say, the whole dialogue with Catherine this evening, which I am not sharing here, keeps playing in my mind. It has further confirmed for me how fragile life is and how out of OUR control life really is. Those of us who live in the FREE world, and by that I mean NOT in a hospital or institutional setting, some times forget how lucky we are. But for people living in an institutional setting, they do not know what it feels like to select their own meals, to dress themselves, to get fresh air, and the list goes on. All I can think of right now is this..... Don't take these things for granted, because being healthy and free to live your life the way you want to live it are NOT guaranteed to us.
No comments:
Post a Comment