Throwback Thursday

This post is from awhile ago and I forgot to post it... -------------------------------------------------------------- I was struck down with some unknown illness and actually spent some time in the hospital. This is unusual for me. I mean, besides the time I lived in a hospital of course. The ride to the hospital was almost as painful as being in labor. The road has no mercy on sensitive innards.

I was a pathetic patient in great pain with two screaming children who were traumatized by people grabbing them and then sticking needles into me. We survived the day somehow. I’m not exactly sure how. I remember laying Molly down next to me and looking into her frightened round eyes, telling her they were helping me feel better. She stopped screaming and I just held her while she looked back at me very trusting and calm. --------------------------------------------------------- We came home the same day without any serious diagnosis. In almost 3 years since we moved to Oyo I can praise the Lord that this was the first time I’ve been to the hospital as a sick person. The pain gradually passed and I am still unaware as to what exactly it was. Some suggested food poisoning which I doubt since for me that usually involves intense cramping, diarrhea and vomiting. This was different. ------------------------------------------- Orcxance couldn’t get off work the next day so he brought a friend of ours over to help out around the house. She came with her 5-year-old daughter and spent the day with us. Congolese women know how to help out like nobody else! She washed all the dirty clothes and diapers, hung them out to dry, went grocery shopping, cooked two different meals on the charcoal stove, scrubbed all the buckets clean, washed the dishes and scoured the pots, swept the house, swept outside the house (which is part of being a tidy person), cleaned up everything after lunch and washed the kitchen rags and towels. Her little daughter played with Molly and had fun decorating herself with various accessories and playing with the toy cars.

After getting better, Orcxance bought me lettuce which is a rare find in the market these days. He also got cucumbers (my favorite!) So I ate something raw and green for the first time since leaving America. It was lovely.