Rainy days and Thursdays...

Monday has a reputation for being the worst day of the week. Not for me! Thursdays have been terrible the last few weeks. Thursday nights are great because that is my play-date night with my cousin H. I feel such relief when he walks through the door at 6pm because I can shut the day out of my mind and think like a 4 year old.

Last Thursday I learned that a young man from my credit union took his own life. 18 years old and he felt he had to end his life. No one knows why. He was a freshman in college, a smart kid with loving parents and a nice girlfriend. He tutored math at the college and had a part-time job there too. I had to help his parents later that day block his debit card and close out his account. That was the hardest thing I have ever had to do at my job. Listen to parents talk about their child's suicide. I felt so awful all day. I just wanted to put my head down and bawl!

Then this Thursday my best friend's mom called my work to talk to me. She had some banking to do but she also wanted to tell me all that is going on with her. She is my friend, too, and I am heart-sick for her. She is the friend that does mission work in Haiti and Africa. My inspiration for rolling bandages for Haiti and organizing the sheet and towel drive at work. For years she has had a degenerative spine disorder and she is at the point now where she can barely move. She cannot get herself out of bed. She cannot take a shower by herself. She cannot brush her teeth, write anything or type on a keyboard. She is only 58.

She is in so much pain she cannot ride in a car and can barely walk. She has surgery scheduled for December 23rd but her doctor is only giving her a 70% success rate. She will very likely become wheelchair bound. I knew she was getting bad, that she was in a great deal of pain all the time. Now she cannot stand it. And she is on so many meds that she hates it. They make her so foggy and confused and funny to talk to all at the same time. She just rambles on and on about all the things she is passionate about and that is many things.

She is so angry at God right now for shutting her down. She is the type of person who only does for others and not for herself. Her first words when I picked up the phone? "Do you have good news for me yet? You are at the top of my prayer list, you know." I am at the top of her prayer list and she could very likely end up crippled. That is the kind of woman she is. Doing for others. Doing for the least of these. Why would God want to put a stop to all the good that she does? She has been such an inspiration to me. I pray to God to ease her suffering. I pray that the surgeon can indeed treat her through the skills God has given him. I ask St Gemma Galgani to pray for my friend's healing. She has so much more she wants to do.