Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Energy Heart

About fifty of Jip’s nursing school classmates gathered at a restaurant Sunday for a 25th reunion. They cheered and rose to their feet when we rolled in. Jip’s grin got very wide.

She handled the attention well. When we first moved back to Thailand, connecting with people from her past was a low priority for Jip, maybe because she wasn’t sure how they’d react to seeing her in a wheelchair.

At this event, she never complained, even though it got noisy and she didn’t always know who was talking to her. It probably helped that everyone there was a nurse.

I got a little misty watching the parade of people line up to speak with her. But that was nothing compared to how I felt when we got ready to leave. The whole group sang to her, a great song that translates literally as “energy heart.” Thais use the phrase to talk about spirit, encouragement, or moral support. I just kept reaching for my hanky.

2 comments:

LG said...

this brought tears to my eyes! -Laura

Anonymous said...

I'd forgotten your telling me that you had this blog so I'm glad that we emailed each other and I could check it out. A lot of your posts are stories that you already told me (though great to read again now that I'm not in Thailand but missing it so much).

But this is one story that I never got to hear before and it's a very sweet one. Thanks John.