So Was Juliet Really an Idiot?
I just watched an episode of Grey's Anatomy that made me cry. This is not unusual, but this particular episode struck an ever more particular chord in me.
In it, an older couple has come in to Seattle Grace because the woman needs to have her gall bladder removed. When the surgeons remove it, they discover calcifications, which basically means she has gall bladder cancer. It is in fairly advanced stages and the doctors give her 4-6 months to live.
While she is asleep, Meredith and Bailey tell the husband what they found. He becomes really sad, but asks them not to tell her that she is dying. He says that she is happy, and he doesn't want her to be scared in the last few months of her life. However, Bailey tells Meredith that she has to inform the patient of her condition. So, Meredith tells the woman that she is dying. And, in a surprising turn of events (well, not for TV, but you know...), she asks Meredith not to tell her husband that she is dying. Meredith is surprised and asks if they can really have a relationship based around a lie. The woman replies that she has gotten to spend 60 years with the love of her life. At the end of the month, the couple is going to Venice. According to legend, if you ride a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs, you will be together for eternity. So, instead of undergoing more surgery to try to increase how long she has to live, the woman decides to go to Venice with her husband and spend the last couple of months of her life with her husband, living.
This really got me thinking about life, and what it means to truly live and enjoy the time you have. I thought about what I would do if I was told I would die within a few months. Would I have surgery and live the remainder of my life out in a hospital, just to have a few more weeks to live? Or would I get on that plane, make the trip across the world, and spend the rest of the time I have left really "living?" Living through the pain? Living, knowing that my time on the earth is limited? The simple answer is, I don't know. You don't know until you're in the situation. You tell yourself what you think is right and wrong, but until you're presented with the opportunity to do something different, to try something new, to make some kind of mistake--a choice you never even thought you'd even have to make... until you're there, in that moment, you don't know what you're going to do.
I've been to Venice, and have seen the Bridge of Sighs. I hardly remember it because I was so exhausted and in such a haze. There were gondolas everywhere and canals and sun and beautiful old buildings, and, from what I remember, it was just one of the most breathtaking places I have ever seen. Hearing about Venice again made me want to go back. Not to ride under The Bridge of Sighs with some guy, but just to see it again and understand the legend of the bridge, and appreciate a different kind of significance to it. Lame as it sounds, part of me has to believe some of those Italian legends. The Trevi Fountain brought us back to Rome, after all.
See, I guess it's stuff like this that makes me a sap and not a cynic, and an optimist, not a pessimist. As nice as I think it is to be single sometimes, other times, the thought of growing old with someone you want to go to Venice with is really appealing too.
In it, an older couple has come in to Seattle Grace because the woman needs to have her gall bladder removed. When the surgeons remove it, they discover calcifications, which basically means she has gall bladder cancer. It is in fairly advanced stages and the doctors give her 4-6 months to live.
While she is asleep, Meredith and Bailey tell the husband what they found. He becomes really sad, but asks them not to tell her that she is dying. He says that she is happy, and he doesn't want her to be scared in the last few months of her life. However, Bailey tells Meredith that she has to inform the patient of her condition. So, Meredith tells the woman that she is dying. And, in a surprising turn of events (well, not for TV, but you know...), she asks Meredith not to tell her husband that she is dying. Meredith is surprised and asks if they can really have a relationship based around a lie. The woman replies that she has gotten to spend 60 years with the love of her life. At the end of the month, the couple is going to Venice. According to legend, if you ride a gondola under the Bridge of Sighs, you will be together for eternity. So, instead of undergoing more surgery to try to increase how long she has to live, the woman decides to go to Venice with her husband and spend the last couple of months of her life with her husband, living.
This really got me thinking about life, and what it means to truly live and enjoy the time you have. I thought about what I would do if I was told I would die within a few months. Would I have surgery and live the remainder of my life out in a hospital, just to have a few more weeks to live? Or would I get on that plane, make the trip across the world, and spend the rest of the time I have left really "living?" Living through the pain? Living, knowing that my time on the earth is limited? The simple answer is, I don't know. You don't know until you're in the situation. You tell yourself what you think is right and wrong, but until you're presented with the opportunity to do something different, to try something new, to make some kind of mistake--a choice you never even thought you'd even have to make... until you're there, in that moment, you don't know what you're going to do.
I've been to Venice, and have seen the Bridge of Sighs. I hardly remember it because I was so exhausted and in such a haze. There were gondolas everywhere and canals and sun and beautiful old buildings, and, from what I remember, it was just one of the most breathtaking places I have ever seen. Hearing about Venice again made me want to go back. Not to ride under The Bridge of Sighs with some guy, but just to see it again and understand the legend of the bridge, and appreciate a different kind of significance to it. Lame as it sounds, part of me has to believe some of those Italian legends. The Trevi Fountain brought us back to Rome, after all.
See, I guess it's stuff like this that makes me a sap and not a cynic, and an optimist, not a pessimist. As nice as I think it is to be single sometimes, other times, the thought of growing old with someone you want to go to Venice with is really appealing too.