-
A Difficult Secret to Keep
A laser like ray of sunshine pierced her eyes waking her up to pounding headache from only a few hours of sleep on the floor. The steely fingers of reality gripped her chest and flooded her mind with all the prayers mixed with lullabies that wrestled against her daughter’s moans until the medicine kicked in. The sweetness of frankinse and the licorice scent of myrrh she rubbed on the girl’s forehead still lingered in the air. She sighed as she examined the room through a kaleidoscope of tears. Everything looked tidy yet out of place- empty jugs of water and wet rags on the floor took the place…
-
The Longest Day of my Life
“You need to come back for additional testing…” The words on that page hit my heart like daggers. It was a letter from the doctor’s office that offered no further explanation. I called the number as quickly as my fingers could push the buttons on my phone and got a recording. I left a message hoping for a quick response. Questions popped in my mind like thought bubbles over cartoon characters. What if it’s something bad? What if I die? Is it something I’m eating? What will happen to my children? My mind raced to all the people I knew who were fighting the battling with cancer or had already…
-
The Cave
The banging of hammers shook me out of my deep sleep. Rays of light exposed my dark reality. “This is the cave!” a man said. “Make sure it’s large enough!” That was music to my ears. I wanted to leap with joy out of that mountain wondering what my purpose would be. Would I provide shelter for hunters, or travelers passing by? Would I hide someone running away from his enemies? How exciting! I’d finally hear people telling late night stories or even planning war strategies, all while getting warm by a fire burning in my belly. “Come on, hurry up!” the same man yelled. “This tomb needs to be…
-
The Other Side of Medicine
Doctors train for many years to treat and cure people. They thrive from watching patients get well and spend most of their adult lives pouring their time and energy for the welfare of others. As the wife of a doctor, I am on the other side of medicine, the family side. I lived through the sleepless nights and the never-ending days of training. Throughout many years I’ve experience waking up in the middle of the night to the ear-piercing sound of a pager, or the incessant ringing of the phone. I listen to his concerns about patients and witness his headaches after night shifts. He’s rarely present at school activities…
-
Running the Race
When I entered my forties, I determined to give myself a challenge to celebrate the beginning of “the second half of my life,” so I signed up to run a half-marathon. I had no idea how to achieve it, so I researched about it, which introduced me to terms that were like a foreign language: speed work, tempo, and long runs. The local paper advertised a group run every Saturday morning, and I decided to join it. I awakened extra early for the first run and dressed comfortably in my daughter’s PE shorts and t-shirt. I grabbed an old, chunky iPod abandoned in a kitchen drawer along with my son’s…
