Trials

A dear friend tripped and fell while walking her dogs and broke three ribs and bruised her face badly. Two weeks later while pulling out of a grocery store parking lot she was hit broadside. She suffered three more broken ribs, a broken bone in her hip, a broken bone in her ankle and a cracked sternum. She spent several days in the hospital and is now home and in a wheelchair and will be for quite some time. She has 24/7 care with an agency and has her loving husband by her side doing whatever else needs to be done.  I plan on going to see her as soon as she is up to it.  She's in California, I'm in Arizona.

My sister has her dental work done in Mexico and has an infection in an implant the dentist completed last year. Whenever she goes there, I accompany her as I don't want her to endure this alone. Often it is a week or more that we are there. If the antibiotics do not clear up this infection, off to Mexico we go.

Richard, a friend my husband and I have had since our high school days was here visiting recently and he and hubby had a falling out. They have not reconciled and Richard left hurt and angry. This is painful after all these years of friendship.

Another very close friend is progressing from Mild Cognitive Impairment into Alzheimer's faster than we anticipated. She would like to visit me in AZ but her family and I are not sure how this will work given her limitations.

These events are not tragic by any stretch compared to what others endure, however, they are serious to those involved.

I am healthy, strong, happy and very fortunate that I have never had a major disease or surgery (other than knee replacements and two Caesarians) yet these trials my friends are going through are difficult to bear. I can't imagine how hard it is for them.

Of course, I've had my share of challenges and heartaches as have all of us if we've lived long enough, yet it is a helpless feeling to not be able to kiss away the hurt and make it better. At the very least, I am able to be there for them, hold their hand, give a hug and listen.

It is an honor to be able to be an ear and shoulder for a loved one.

xo