As someone else pointed out online, today’s weather exactly matches that of the 9/11 in 2001 when the world changed. I will leave it to all of you to remember and then think about what the present times are like. Please keep the memory of that earlier time close to your hearts as a symbol of what hate can do.
And now I have to share all the love I found in the last 24 hours. I had to take a bus then a train to get to my appointment with a retinal specialist at Yale New Haven Hospital Services. The morning started actually not on a note of love but of sheer arrogance on the part of the bus driver. Quite frankly, I told him at the end of the ride that he was the worst driver I had ever had and I do intend to report him to the bus company. But I was determined that he would not spoil my trip, because I really enjoy the train ride the followed. So I put him out of my mind as I focused on the wonderful scenery along the Connecticut shore. They call the train Shoreline East for a reason.
I arrived for my appointment rather early but was pleased to be able to sit in the lobby and knit for a while before proceeding upstairs. I was still too early to check in, but a wonderful woman at the desk took my particulars then told me to have a seat. When the appropriate time came, she had checked me in without my having to start again. Meanwhile, I had made some new friends in the waiting room (as women are reported to do more often than men). And then I feel as though I had a trip around the world.
The medical professionals who tended to me included a young woman from Ukraine who kindly brought me juice and crackers as I waited for the doctor to come to the treatment room. I had previously been tested by another friendly soul (but I didn’t get her background information). When I heard the juice woman’s accent, I originally asked whether it was Russian, but she corrected me that it was Ukrainian. She has been here ten years but still has family back there, and I commiserated with her. Then another intern came to examine me, and it turned out that he was from Viet Nam, and I finally learned how to pronounce that very common lsat name.
By the time all the medical stuff was done, I was too knackered to travel back home and in truth had missed the early trains I thought I would make. So thankfully there is a hotel adjacent to the medical center where I was able to get a room on such short notice. There I met another lovely young woman who recognized the area code of my cell phone as having originally been assigned to Brookyn, NY. When I explained where we were living at the time, it turns out that her family has a house right around the corner. It really is a small world. Then my final foreign-ish encounter was the delightful red-haired young man who checked me out of the hotel this morning. His hair was really magnificent and I complimented him on his fabulous curls. He thanked me, and then because of his first name it suddenly dawned on me to ask whether he were Irish. He said that it was his family background, but we didn’t get any further than that. I told him about having lived in the Isle of Man, which lies between England and Ireland, and he said he would have to look it up.
And now I’m safely back home with a referral to a “low vision” specialist. More will be revealed—or not as the case may be—and I’m looking forward to reading my daily paper while I still can. We can all do our part to bring about more love and peace.
RESIST ALWAYS
TTFN
Katharine, you never disappoint. Thank you.
People are lonely desperate and scared.