Wound Clinic Waiting Room
There at the Wound Clinic each person is wrapped in their own suffering and problems.
I felt like we got a Front Row Seat with Struggling Humanity.
It was sobering...and yet as hard as our situation was there was .a man in wheelchair nearby...
He was on oxygen...with a catheter..his poor little feet wrapped in foam.
His shirt draped over him... his wild hair all asunder..
I tried to say something and comfort him but he brushed me away..
He looked dazed by his pain and isolation
I drew him, the oxygen, the tubes, his feet in the foam...all of him except his face so as to preserve his privacy and somehow to honor him in that moment of difficulty...so public and so private.. all of his needs on full display and he so obviously in discomfort and even more so suffering so much isolation and lonliness...
Later as he got into the van I saw him look at me with such a lonely ache.. and need.
I realized he was so blockaded by pain that he could no longer reach out or recieve
My heart broke quietly for him... but at least I tried to give him a moment of comfort.
His situation was So Much Worse than ours...so much worse and he was so obviously alone and lonely.
Despite all of Joshs challenges he has me by his side and he comes home with me.
Even if the Bickersons make an appearance... I am there for him and our love sustains us.
So once again... just as we were wrapped up in our situation like in a cocoon, what gave me wings of insight and empathy was seeing how our struggles paled in comparison to others... and then empathy opens even more..like a peony in full blossom releasing its scent...
We made it home, passing the Wall of Forgotten Natives and saw again..even if from a distance..true need...
I come home to the beautiful fragile structure of my sukkah and sit in the sun all afternoon painting and drawing and musing...
realizing how despite the fragile structure of our lives..somehow we endure... we are resilient and we survive....
