Part II - Velma Dinkley Makes a Miraculous Recovery

Part I  - My Sister is Velma Dinkley

Part III - Down the Rabbit Hole

I've been absent from my blog recently while I kept a bedside vigil for my sister who was in a coma due to complications after brain surgery (see My Sister is Velma Dinkley). 

I've always described myself as an eternal optimist and I thought my wellspring of hope and optimism was inexhaustible.  Turns out, I was wrong.  Perhaps the death of my parents had caused a crack in the reservoir that let my faith seep out undetected.  Perhaps it was the fear of losing the last member of my original family that eroded my mighty optimism.  Whatever the cause, I've never before experienced such despair.

Day after day, my sister remained in a coma, her life hanging not by a thread, but by the multiple plastic tubings that fed her oxygen, and nutrients, and medicines.  Day after day, the rain poured down as I drove through the traffic to be by her side, spray rising off the pavement from the wheels of trucks, my windshield wipers struggling to clear my vision.

And I was blind; blinded by rain and tears, and by my own focus which was zoomed in to the pin point centre of my destination - not the city, nor the hospital, the room, nor the bed, just my sister.

Then one day, the rain stopped, the sun came out, and my sister awoke.  As I stood by her bed marveling at her lucidness, she expressed her joy to me - joy in seeing me, joy in the sweet taste of water in her mouth, joy in being alive. 

I looked out the hospital window and was surprised to notice that the world had changed during the eleven days of my sister's coma.  The bleak grey of a long winter had been replaced by the fresh green of Spring as the trees were now budding with new leaves and flower blossoms.  The rain had brought life back to the earth and I shared my sister's joy.  The sight of the those trees bursting with new life brought a realization to me - while I had been blind with my grief and despair, hope had always been raining down around me.



Now, for the PERFECT song that matches our joy PERFECTLY, here's Nina Simone singing Feeling Good.  Enjoy!