Holding Australia Fair in my heart

Downer of a day.  Lunch with a room-stranded older friend.  If he was living back  in the sweet place that was his home & multi-layered communities, he’d have friends dropping by his senior residence.  His church & neighbors would have set up relays of people to help him get back on his feet after a relatively minor stumble left his bedridden for several weeks, weakening his leg muscles.  As it is, though, while we’d love to take him out on a drive,  it is almost impossible to move him from the bed to his wheelchair because, months later,  his legs are still jello. 

Found myself thinking about Mom, who at the same age - 85ish - had a horrific health emergency while on holiday in Australia, put herself into training to get back to the USA to have a serious procedure rather than sticking my brother with the cost of having it Down Under (not covered under her Medicare).  Until seeing how stranded our friend is due to something as basic as loss of muscle tone, didn’t appreciate that while Mom was the one who walked from her bed to a chair in her room, then to the bathroom, then to the kitchen, then did laps around the kitchen island, then onto  laps around the deck, then venturing out to the front gate, then opening it & stepping out onto Dudley Street, then all those hikes up & down Dudley Street … while SHE was the one doing all that training, it was Mike & Kerry & Karen & Mom's Hurstville friends & family-of-the-heart & therapists who helped her literally get back up on her feet, who helped her take those first unsteady steps, who held her around the waist as she navigated to the chair, to the bathroom, who stood by her as she edged out into the hall, to other parts of the house, to the great big world outside her “Bryn Athyn” front door. 

John & I thanked Mike & Kerry & Karen for all they did to take care of their Nan;  am adding in my thanks to ALL who helped get her back on her feet, helped rehab her muscles & restore her energies.  Would our dear friend, living many miles outside his home turf, had a bit of the same.