Every day is your day

Woke up yesterday morning and seemed to know that it was going to be "one of those days". Usually on Thursdays, I work out of town and this was one of those Thursdays. I have this wonderful opportunity to work at one of my employer's residences which is located on the ocean. What an incredible place to spend the day!! When it is not raining I spend most of the day outside working in the gardens and what a time of peace and serenity. Yesterday it rained and rained and was so windy! So I stayed inside and did some boring filing. It could have been so much more if I had just relaxed and enjoyed it but instead I spent the day feeling anxious about nothing. I guess we all have days that seem wasted, but each time I have one I try and learn from it. Hopefully, next time I will embrace this time of solitude and relax within it.

My entry into this world was pretty overwhelming. I was one of triplets. The first was born premature and died. My mother had a terrible time carrying my brother and me but she did carry us to full term. The doctors had told my dad and her that not all of us would make it. Either one of the babies was going to die or Mom would. I was born breach (bottom first) and was a "blue baby" and was thought to be dead. Things were a lot different in those days. As there was another baby coming they covered me with a sheet and focused on getting my brother out alive and saving my mother. Dad in the meantime had driven to the top of a local mountain and had prayed (he didn't believe in God) "If there really is a God, please save my family". My brother was born a healthy little boy and Mom was going to make it. The doctors were about to take my little body away when they saw movement under the sheet. When they removed the sheet, I was no longer blue and was breathing on my own. My mother said that God honoured Dad's little bit of faith and prayer and breathed life into my body.

I seemed to be doing fine for the first year but as I started the natural growth process I had a terrible time breathing and spent a lot of my younger years in the hospital in oxygen tents. The doctors didn't know what was wrong with me. I wasn't growing and I was getting weaker and weaker. At the age of three they told my parents that I would not live past the age of eight and that they should put me in a solarium for children where I would live out my days. Mom wasn't quite so easy to give up on me. At the age of five Mom was having problems with her back so she went to a chiropractor. She told him about me and he recommended that mom bring me in. That was the beginning of a long road to recovery for my little body. My illness was finally diagnosed as curvature of the spine. What was happening was that as I grew my spine was so weak that it was curving inward towards my rib cage and crushing my lungs and that was why I wasn't growing in height.

Also back in those days there was no such thing as medical coverage so my parents were having to spend large sums of money for my treatment on top of trying to raise five other children. This lead to hidden resentment that would rear its ugly head as the years passed. But that's for another day.

Barbara <><