Bertie's Life
This blog is about me and my life. It resulted from a friend reading some of my notes and remarking "you need to start a blog.". Writing has been helping me cope with all the changes in my life I have experienced (Mom's sickness, getting laid off, finishing college at age 61!) among others. Read it or not. I will welcome and appreciate your comments.
Monday, June 25, 2012
"See ya later," she said, "when your legs get straighter!"
It has been a year since Mom got sick. When I think about that year, which is often, I like to reflect on the many different people we came in contact with during Mom's last days on earth. I recall the first hospital roommate was a petite lady I will call Mary. Suffering from dementia and a fractured hip, I quickly learned that Mary had been a charge nurse in her heyday and by all accounts, a good one. Though her memory was mostly gone, occasionally she would surprise us with her quick wit. Whenever I left Mom for the day, I would call out "see ya later alligator.". One day I had just finished saying "see ya later" and I heard Mary chime in, "when your legs get straighter!". The nurses and I had a good laugh and Mary told us about saying this as a child. Her eyes were bright and she laughed uproariously telling us about it. Such a fine lucid moment for Mary! Another roommate in the rest home was a small Chinese women who could speak no English. But boy could she communicate! With her eyes and hands, she told me about the beautiful flowers her daughter brought in.
Two of the nurses Mom had in the ICU stand out. One looked just like Meg Ryan and we teased her about being sleepless in Seattle. Another had the most positive, cheerful persona I have ever encountered in a hospital. We called her our "angel." Sometimes we find ourselves rushing through life missing chance encounters that can have significance to us when we recall them later. I found myself being more aware and in tune with the world around me during that year than any other time in my life. And so I am trying to hold onto that awareness because of the peace, tranquility, and enjoyment of life, no matter the circumstances, that it brings. As for you, my peeps, I'll see you all later, when my legs get straighter!
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Love this!!
ReplyDeleteI just googled this expression because my 89 year old mother said it to me as I left her room in rehab (broken leg). I had never heard her say it before
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