Sticking Together

“It could have been fatal had you waited another 8 hours to bring your brother in.”

This was the statement given by the attending physician as he went through the initial medical tests of my dear cousin, T.

For close to three weeks, T was confined in the ICU.  Oxygen and dextrose lines, heart and BP monitoring devices were attached to him.  He could hardly move and breathing was difficult.  His family kept a tight watch over him.   Without much ado, whatever differences they had with each other was quickly set aside just as quickly as the deadly bacteria took hold of my cousin. They shared one prayer—T be given the grace to get well again. During those uncertain days, love was the only force that gave the family the fortitude to take each day as it came.

Comfort and Joy

I had been putting it off too many times.  The year is about to end and I have not finished clearing up the last of the rubbish stored in my mother’s basement.

Last week, I finally went down to the basement armed with my not so original mantra, clean up, give away, simplify life.

But if you are like me, the tasks takes awhile as picking up one item after another triggers a memory.  There was my dad’s old floor lamp, my mom’s old pots and pans used for too many family meals, a petromax that brought light to those dark brown-out days, and a box containing chipped figurines for a Christmas belen.

Just as I pulled out one of the wise men, a thought dashed through my mind. Put up the belen.