“The person who tries to live alone will not succeed as a human being. His heart withers if it does not answer another heart. His mind shrinks away if he hears only the echoes of his own thoughts and finds no other inspiration.”
- Pearl S. Buck
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I have my own version of “Tuesdays With Morrie” going on these days. Mine happens on Wednesday nights and the name of my good friend is Lorna. She’s not exactly coping with a terminal illness like Morrie was, but she does go to the hospital for weekly infusion treatments. It’s a sad reality to know that the human body really is like a machine. Over time it wears out, no matter how healthy we eat or how respectful we are of it. Her mind is sharp, her spirits high, but her body is not keeping up.
I stop by the treatment center on my way home from work each week, and while I am there we sit, chat, have dinner, watch Jeopardy together, and then chat some more. I’ve known her casually for about a year before I happened to run into her at the hospital one day. I was there for a meeting and she happened to be walking down the hall with her portable IV. I promised to stop by the treatment area after my meeting, and since then I’ve made it a part of my own weekly routine.
Coincidences, serendipity, fate, whatever you’d like to call it, has always been a part of our relationship. Ever since I first met her, we’d always run into each other at the most random and obscure places. For me, especially, I’d run into her at places I’d rarely frequent, or places in random cities outside of my neighborhood. I’ve always felt some sort of affinity towards her, despite the fact that she can come across as ornery, and despite the fact that she’s twice my age. There’s just been some sort of connection we share that was never really apparent until we started our weekly meetings.
Tonight’s conversation was rather poignant. I was ranting about my latest string of less than stellar dates when she shared about someone she once loved. Their relationship had a rocky start. She was really into this guy who was hesitant about dating her and so they broke up. Eight months later they ran into each other again. They talked and shortly thereafter, he decided to commit to the relationship. Once he did that, she said it was the best 10 years of her life. It ended because he died, and I cried with her as she shared her stories.
She told me he wasn’t exactly book smart, nor was he the most outgoing guy. He was socially rough around the edges, but he was kind, and patient and he treated her well. I could tell he was the only person she ever felt had loved every good and every not-so-good part of her. It was sad, but it also warmed my heart to know she was lucky enough to have found a love like that in her lifetime. I hope to find a love like that too someday, but I digress…
In the meantime, I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I’ve got a tennis date!
