Monday, September 19, 2011

Last Friday Night

This summer in Edmonton has been crazy. Not for the constant construction or the busyness, it’s been the weather that has made everything a little insane.

10 – 25 degrees Celsius (50 – 78 Fahrenheit), long periods of rain or gale force winds, more mosquitoes then possible, too hot to go outside (30 degrees) and a “best of Mother Nature’s worst” could all describe this summer. Over all it has been, in my opinion, pretty miserable.

Until last week.

Beautiful blue skies, bright sun and a warm 28-31 degrees. We finally got our summer weather the second week of September. Of course, there are leaves on the ground and a distinct “fall” feeling with all the stores now stocking winter wear, but that didn’t stop a girl friend and I from having dinner on a patio on Jasper Ave. on Friday night.

So there we were, 2 blondes in cute clothes, enjoying an un-seasonably warm Friday night, eating a Mediterranean dinner on a patio without a care in the world. Or so it would seem.

To look at us, you would never know I was wearing a permanent poo pouch or that she was an insulin dependent diabetic who had to take a needle before meals. We looked like your average every day Canadian, albeit with better clothes and shoes then most, but average nonetheless.

We were about to start our meal when T realized she had forgotten her insulin at home. She had switched out purses for the evening and since the insulin needs to be refrigerated she had forgotten to put a new ampule in her purse. She made it through dinner and coffees but we needed to head back to her place soon after so she could give herself an injection. Let me repeat….GIVE HERSELF AN INJECTION. This woman who is not only smart, beautiful and amazing in every way, but has to give herself an INJECTION whenever she wants to eat something. Yet she never complains.

This made me realize that as an ostomate, all I have to do is switch out a pouch or two and occasionally put on a new wafer. I don’t have to constantly prick myself to test my blood or give myself an injection when I’m hungry. What the heck am I complaining about?

Friday night also made me realize that everyone is dealing with their own demons, whether it is Crohns, Cancer, Arthritis, an ostomy, Diabetes, in grown toe nails, Fibromyalgia or any number of invisible diseases/afflictions. Just because a person looks fine on the outside doesn’t mean all is fine within.

Thank you Oscar for allowing me to take a step back and realize that other people’s words and actions may not be coming from a place of hate and anger but rather from a place of pain and loneliness.

A famous quote came to me and I think it’s apt “When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.” –Wayne Dyer

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