The other day I dragged Big Red out (sometimes I call the walker Big Red and sometimes I call her Red Rider…for some reason the other walker I just call “little guy.” The shillelagh is, of course known as Joe). Big Red and I headed to Carle and trotted off to the surgical waiting room. A friend was having surgery so I went to sit with their partner, my very dear friend. I figure nobody should sit in the waiting room alone without some kind of company. Of course she’d told me not to come but Big Red and I ignored her. I just stayed a few hours as I had to get back home to say goodbye to Tal. Oh, and fyi surgery went fine, albeit long…. It felt good being there, to just sit, roll our eyes when necessary and to chat.
I told her about the time Ernie was having hernia surgery and my father passed away during it. I can’t imagine what I would have done without my friend Gisela there. I of course had told her she didn’t have to sit with me but she showed up in the waiting room with snacks and little packets of Kleenex, which came in handy as it turned out. I just remembered using that Kleenex as I cried. Ernie was in recovery and I kept wandering the halls trying to get a signal so I could call the nursing home (I’d just received a message) and my mother. Eventually I left Gisela with Ernie and Ann and Bob came and got him and brought him home and picked the boys up from Mary and Ray’s house while I went to be with my mother.
Ever since then I’ve tried to sit with friends at times like that if they don’t have family with them. I can’t always manage it but I try. And I always try to go to wakes/funerals/memorials because I remember the people that came to my parents and my sister’s funeral. It means so much.
It wasn’t a lot but I’m glad Big Red and I went for a bit. I don’t know what we’d do without our friends.
And in big news: I will have a house concert to announce shortly.
Onward.
