Justice for Nancy: Blind Leading the Blind: “Swings” & June.
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Today is my Grandma’s 81st birthday. It’s been almost one year since her attack, and this hell started. I was pleasantly surprised that she was awake, and reasonably chatty. She’d had visitors already, and my mom and I brought a specially requested German Chocolate Cake. (I’m gagging again, remembering the smell…. I’ve got a coconut issue.) We sang ‘Happy Birthday,’ and all my normal songs we sing together whenever I visit. In all of the happy, she still had her outbursts of sadness.
I’d be giggling one minute with her, and the next minute reminding her to breathe, that she was safe, not outside, nor on the curb… Or in a man’s barber shop, male review, and that we didn’t leave her outside accidentally when she “came over to visit, uninvited, a few days before.” The “swings” are what I’m now going to call it. The “Swings” are heavy, tiring, and sort of defeating. My own personal struggles still lie in getting no closure from the events that took place, and the “swings” take me a few days to recover from.
(In writing this, the pit of my stomach fell as I saw the missed call. My heart just broke even more for my best friend….)
Which brings me to the highlight of my visit today. We were reminded in the best of ways that life is what matters in the end. Today, an 87 year old June wheeled into Grandma’s room, with Aide in tow. She introduced herself proudly, and said she was here to wish Grandma a Happy Birthday. She, too, was completely blind. She gave my grandma all I can describe as a pep talk, and one I wish would’ve happened last April or May. Her positivity was damn contagious, and her outlook on life the same. She had a few great one-liners (“SO, I heard you’ve turned 21, and you can finally vote!” “You can either be a bitch, or you can make the most of it.” and “Adopted children are the best.” <– Amen, sister…) but also said this, “Color doesn’t matter. Race doesn’t matter.” She told us all about her adopted great-grandkids, and talked up her teacher-children (Village Elementary’s Gym Teacher) only to find out the aide had her son as a teacher herself. So kind. So warm. I really hope they could meet again.
The simplest of conversations brought a whole room full of people together, even with the heavy “swings” happening all around us. I’ve been in some deep thought modes here lately, and after June’s surprise visit, felt oddly refreshed.
Make sure you’re making people feel loved. Make sure you’re not inflicting undue harm and pain in someone’s life—just because. Walk with a smile. Spread the love. Help to warm up this cold as hell world, and leave your nasty, righteous judgment out of it. Race, Creed, Gender, Sexual Orientation—no one is better than anyone in this world. We’re all just human. We’ve all got the “swings.”
I’d offer up a song for you to click and listen to… Color Blind by Counting Crows
