I cannot say exactly why my thoughts have gone to this topic today. Anyone who follows my blog, will soon figure out I am just as likely to write about what the Grandgirls or the Grandboy did today, as I am about my yummy Chicken and Dumplings, or religion and politics. But that is how life should be. When I see someone who writes only about politics, I wonder if they have a life that others can relate to. Are they happy slipping too far into only one facet of life? I wonder if they realize that it is in the ordinary aspects of our lives that we can correctly see the subjects of religion and politics.
Today, I am alive in every sense of the word, but that has just been a recent development. Thank you my friend D’Lesa for figuring out why I could not recover. For over a year, since two major surgeries a week apart, I could not fight my way out of the health hole I was in. Oh, I worked very hard at making my appearance as good as it gets, but one small outing could put me back in the bed for a couple of days doing much worse than before the outing. If anyone out there needs what I did, you can email me at wbs77777@hotmail.com NO, I am NOT SELLING YOU ANYTHING. I will just tell you where you can find it on the internet.
My thoughts today actually went to my hospital room of three weeks in February 2011. My husband’s constant presence and help were truly what kept me from just giving up before I started my recovery. He has a way of not saying a word – I can just read things in his blue eyes. From our first date forward John and I, together, are like a fine old wine you just want to savor forever. (No, we are not winos, but do appreciate wine-thirty now and then.) I don’t believe this happens to other people every day, but what do I know. I can only tell you that I am blessed beyond measure. Jesus is my rock, and John is my excellent husband.
It meant so much to me when family members came to visit me in the hospital. It doesn’t matter if the visit is five minutes or five hours. However, often five minutes is best when there is a throne next to your bed, and that throne is a huge step up from the bed pan. I remember how hard – what a huge ordeal it was – to get from the bed to the throne. I felt like I had accomplished a tremendous feat. If I was silly enough to lie down in the bed once I came home, I soon remembered there were no nifty buttons to push my bed and me into a sitting position. I felt awful waking John from a sound sleep in the middle of the night to sit me up.
After I returned home I received a few calls from people who said, “I was meaning to get to the hospital the last week or so to see you, and I am so sorry I just never made it over. Well, you weren’t in there that long . . .” Of course, I would say, “I was in there a little over three weeks.” They would feign shock that I had actually been there that long. Nothing makes a person feel worse than to hear I meant to come see you, but . . . Hmmm But what? The only correct and logical thought for you to think at that point, is that they simply didn’t care enough.
This is a huge problem in America – being symptomatic – of America’s root problems. Besides it being important for my well-being, and improvement, for you to show up to see me (pretend I am your friend here), it is important for your well-being for you to care about your family and friends above all else on this planet. Most people do not have the spouse that John and I have, and you may just be at the top of their list of human beings they care about, and hope you feel the same way. You may never fully appreciate how important “visiting hours” are until you are flat on your back, staring at the door to your room for the duration of “visiting hours.”
Having said all of that, there is the occasional odd duck in the family who does not want visitors. We suspect that they do not want any of us to see them unless they are A1, 100%, their usual gorgeous self (and you know who I am talking to – the only person I ever knew who didn’t want visitors)! There are those people from Hollywood or New York City who don’t want visitors when they have their faces, butts, boobs, and God knows what else lifted. Like we don’t know what they did the first time they show their odd looking faces in public. (You people know who you are too!) I think it is safe to say that almost everyone we know would like for you to visit them in the hospital. If in doubt, do it anyway!
God created us for His glory; but he also created us with a huge capacity to love and care for each other. I think it is a requirement. Many of us have been a bit preoccupied with the evils within our nation. It is totally understandable. But, (always a but – huh?), it is in how We The People actually live our lives that determine how much evil does or does not filter into the Republic. Life is not about what the television is peddling today, or the violent computer games, or what scandals and lies our government is hypnotizing us with. Get off the television and the computer and live.
Visiting hours are between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., and all the other hours of the day! Americans are the kindest and most generous people on the planet – but we are in the process of being processed right out of our family and friend-friendly heritage. We need to get back to the habit of Visiting Hours. Other than work, and family meals together, Visiting Hours should be the most important thing in our lives. Why do our friends and family have to be in the hospital before you MIGHT go and visit with them. I know I am not describing everyone, but I am describing enough of America who can change our future in the span of 30 days.
Without our daily supply of love and companionship we become a nation that could be infiltrated right in front of our noses and never know it. The Boston Terrorist Bombing made this perfectly clear. If we were the people our grandparents were, those people would have been discovered for who and what they are long before they could successfully build bombs to terrorize us with. America is, and will be, the sum of the energy we expend today individually. We can individually be involved with those friends, family, and NEIGHBORS whom live near us, or we can be isolationists within our communities who can be infiltrated at any day the enemy wishes. America was not largely invaded during WWII because most homes had a gun for protection, and most people knew who was out of place in their community almost instantly. Changing America back to the safe nation Americans once enjoyed, is as simple as each of us individually changing our life-habits into the wholesome image we so desire. If Americans stop being isolationists tomorrow, our Republic could be vastly different in 30 days. The evil works are only working because we are not united in our families, and in our communities.
texas lady juanita 