Chance meeting
Thanksgiving was fun, huge amount of people in the house, but it went very well, mom only getting stressed when SIL was running around taking pictures with people and forgot to include mom - so mom and I took one together, thus the new Facebook image. :) Oh - and then there was SIL asking my daughter if she likes girls...which I'm sure was a joke, but I don't think Kelsey agrees.
One of the people that always comes asked if she could bring a friend who was alone for the holiday, and of course we said yes, so I got to meet someone new - at first, I thought she was very quiet and frail - older lady, cane, very quiet. She sat with her friend, and seemed to really enjoy hearing the kids jabbering at each other.
After dinner, we were sitting around the table, and it was time for dessert, and this lady started talking after my surgery came up - and it turns out she's far from quiet or frail. 6 years ago she was in a small plane crash and nearly died - and during the process of putting her back together, they found an aneurysm in her brain that they had to go in and take out - so on top of all the traumatic brain injury she sustained in the crash, she then had to have brain surgery for that - and she's been struggling a lot since then dealing with things. And I was the first person she had talked to that has been through something similar, and I felt like I just threw her a lifeline. Something as simple as describing how the first time I saw a movie in IMAX months after my surgery was so incredibly exhausting and overwhelming - and she GOT it. And she felt the same talking to me. When she went to leave, I got so many hugs and so much thanks for including her - and I swear I glowed the whole way home, and realized how much of a difference it makes to talk to someone who has been through this. Not that my friends who support and love and care about me don't help, but it's just so different to describe something to someone who has actually felt it, been confused by it, been frustrated by it.
One of the people that always comes asked if she could bring a friend who was alone for the holiday, and of course we said yes, so I got to meet someone new - at first, I thought she was very quiet and frail - older lady, cane, very quiet. She sat with her friend, and seemed to really enjoy hearing the kids jabbering at each other.
After dinner, we were sitting around the table, and it was time for dessert, and this lady started talking after my surgery came up - and it turns out she's far from quiet or frail. 6 years ago she was in a small plane crash and nearly died - and during the process of putting her back together, they found an aneurysm in her brain that they had to go in and take out - so on top of all the traumatic brain injury she sustained in the crash, she then had to have brain surgery for that - and she's been struggling a lot since then dealing with things. And I was the first person she had talked to that has been through something similar, and I felt like I just threw her a lifeline. Something as simple as describing how the first time I saw a movie in IMAX months after my surgery was so incredibly exhausting and overwhelming - and she GOT it. And she felt the same talking to me. When she went to leave, I got so many hugs and so much thanks for including her - and I swear I glowed the whole way home, and realized how much of a difference it makes to talk to someone who has been through this. Not that my friends who support and love and care about me don't help, but it's just so different to describe something to someone who has actually felt it, been confused by it, been frustrated by it.