Barbara’s New Year’s Wish

My friend Barbara Seranella wrote about her current health problems in the Sunday edition of the Los Angeles Times…and did so with her usual humor, insight, and honesty:

I won’t bore you with all the complications, but the longest stretch
I’ve gone without being in the hospital since then is five weeks, and
I’ve had another surgery on my liver. I know the entire staff of USC
University Hospital’s sixth floor, and most of the fifth. They know me
well enough to get my jokes. We hug when we part.

These days I
exist in a state of grace. I don’t get angry; there is no one I argue
with. Nothing is a big deal. I’m not worried about my career or signs
of aging. I feed the birds and watch them eat. In my lack of hustle,
mysteries have been solved. I’ve figured out how to use the fabric
softener and bleach dispenser on my washing machine. There are these
written pieces called "directions." What a wonder they’ve turned out to
be.

[…]So I am the lucky one. Odd as this might sound, I wouldn’t change a thing. I earned my suffering and the wisdom attached.

That
said, I am ready to carry those lessons forward into the future. Please
Mr. Wizard, I want to go home. I am ready to be healthy again. I am
having another transplant soon. It will restore my health. I will no
longer have yellow eyeballs, or hippopotamus legs. I will have the
stamina to stay awake all day and play with my friends and my dog. I
will travel and not need a wheelchair. I will be a sightseer in my own
town and take walking tours of Los Angeles. I have never seen the Watts
Tower or Disney Hall. I will go treasure hunting at the beach and maybe
try to learn salsa dancing.

Oh, the places I’ll go and the things I’ll do. I can’t wait. Bring on the new year.

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