Monday found me helping my wife deliver food to elderly, incapacitated, and disabled people, part of a community effort. Someone does it everyday Monday through Friday. Meals are provided for weekends and holidays on request as part of the system.
We were delivering six frozen meals to a new person on the route. We were instructed to call him first, to let him know we were on the way. He came out of his house as we pulled into his driveway. Obese, on oxygen, in a wheelchair, he looked about fifty years old, at least ten years younger than me.
Sad and shocked, I wondered about the circumstances of luck, genetics, work, and habits that brought the guy to that point. Most of life seems like a lottery, and the health lottery seems like the cruelest and most random of all.
Michael Seidel, writer 
It’s hard to see people younger than you in bad condition- but it’s a good reminder to give thanks for the abilities, mental clarity, and health that you still have – and to do all you know to do to preserve it while you still can! 💙
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Eloquently expressed. Thank you.
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I used to work in health care – at the time I was about 38 years old- and one of my patients was a 30 old woman who had been in long term care since she was 16.
She was brain damaged and unable to even speak or feed herself or so much as sit up by herself, or walk. The reason was heartbreaking, and I’ve never forgotten her.
She had been a passenger in a car (at 16 years old) with her boyfriend driving. He had been drinking. He escaped without even a scratch-(God knows how)- but she was left permanently mentally and physically disabled. One man’s conscious choice changed her life and the life of her family forever. It has left a mark on me that I can never forget.
I am a grandmother now and I think of her every morning when I wake up stiff and sore with back or knee pain or feeling the loss of my husband.
Then I open my curtains and thank God as I get out of bed, that I am ABLE to get out of bed. I am able to remember my husband and that he is no longer here. I still a have a sharp memory, all my mental and physical abilities- good vision, hearing- and the ability to enjoy my life and find pleasure in things- I can care for my grandchildren and play with them and teach them and take them for a walk- so I thank God even for the feeling of loss and sorrow- because so many no longer “feel” anything.
I thank God even in pain- because I have the ability to work through it and am still able to function normally.
One second of a day can stop these “small” blessings away – and when we wake up every morning, it does wonders for our soul to stop and think of all the blessings we have, rather than those we don’t have. ❤️
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Quite a life to look back upon. The story of the young woman is so, so, sad. Mom is a retired nurse and shared tales like these with me. Thank you for sharing your status and memories with me. I’m touched and honored. Cheers, M
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Thank you! And thank you for considering those in need!
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Thanks for your and your wifes helpful work, Michael! xx Michael
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Hello Michael. Life is a roll of the dice. I was a happy young man with a business with my lover / now spouse and a business of my own doing lawn and garden design / care. Had the world by the tail. Was a military veteran with two tours under my belt, was on a bowling league, doing well. Then by the second game, my right leg would give out and I started to fall. Then I had trouble walking by the end of the day. One morning I couldn’t move my leg. Ron took me to the emergency room. Turns out I had massive damage in the head of my femur on my right leg. It was dying and had collapsed. There was damage to the other hip and the rest of my leg bones. Long story short because I was a veteran I went to the new VA hospital, after lots of tests and several surgeries they put me in a wheelchair for 2 and a half years. With medical help I was able to walk again, first with a walker and then a cane. I still need a wheelchair and walker occasionally. Seems I have several bones diseases / syndromes but the long and short of it is some places my bones are too dense, others way too thin, other full of spikes, strange growths, and arthritis of several kinds. It is in all my bones and joints, with recent tests showing I am losing the use of my shoulders. I tell everyone I was built on a Monday after everyone had been binge-drinking over the weekend. In 2010 I wanted badly to go back to work and did so against doctors orders. I started working in the surgical ICU of a major hospital. I loved it, but by year four I was spending more time in the hospital as a patient than a worker. My doctors told Ron and myself I was basically killing my self with my body shutting down and they couldn’t stop the decline, and if I did not quit … well you know.
So I again went back to a wheelchair and worked back to using a cane. I have a really good life and I am lucky as can be to have good medical care I can barely afford and a husband who adores me. I have a computer set up that keeps me up with the world at large and lets me socialize and add my two cents in here and there. I have it so much better than many in my situation. The only thing I hate is that I have a large sticking out belly because I can not move or exercise much and that is wear my weight went. 😣🙄😀😁
The point I wanted to make is what you said, it is often out of a person’s control. Mine is genetic and trauma induced. I admire what you and your wife do, it is grand. Hugs
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Thanks for sharing some of your details, Scottie. Life really is a roll of dice, isn’t it? You gotta wonder, who’s rolling them? It’s a small thing we do, and I must give my wife the credit. She’s the one that signed up and offers her time. I’m really just supporting her. You take care, mon ami. Hugs
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