Four years on ...

Times of our lives

I have a mind for dates, times and seasons, a smell can take me back decades, some music relives the past, my mind carried away to a place as if I have turned back time.

Each year, these days come and go as I wonder how things have changed from that event and today the 9^th of October takes me back to 4 years ago.

It was the end of hospital stay that I thought I might leave after four days, but ended up spending 18 days; this however, did not compare to the 4 months that the man in the next bed had spent in hospital.

Memories and thanks

Four years on, I am still recovering and rebuilding, a long journey of hope for radical change as the home and security I longed to return to has long gone and what is left is memories.

I have much to be thankful for, I have done new things, seen new places, embarked on new ventures and made new friends, I am forever grateful to friends, relations, acquaintances and strangers who have blessed me and given me succour in times of need.

The memories that will follow the next few days and months will be tough because October now harbours the births and the deaths of many loved ones. I remember too that as I was admitted to hospital, my condition was such that I was not expected to see the end of October either – I am still standing.

Life is just life

The paragraph below captures how I felt; the day I returned home, the longer story can be found here.

"Before I left, I had one last look at the bed that had been my unexpected, uninvited, sudden world of 18 days. I cried about how my freedom could so easily be taken away; how my vulnerability could be so exposed, how one could be at the mercy of strangers in a positions that demand lots of kindness, compassion and care."

Life happens; live it, enjoy it and make a story.