She was once the head of Labour and Delivery at North York
General Hospital
A revered nurse whose students she trained and colleagues
she worked with, keep in touch to this day, she is my oldest and dearest friend whom I met
while working at the Red and White grocery store as high school students more
than 40 years ago. Christmas Eve parties
in her parents rec room with her dad tending bar, we dressed alike, wore the
same size, dated boys who drove the same sports cars and marvelled at how much we had/have in common: one of three sisters; would give birth to one
son and inevitably, though we ended up living more than 90 minutes away from
each other, would discover we had the same living room carpet and had bought the
same dress on sale at Winners.
Our lives went separate ways during first marriages and
career demands but today we live (part-time for me) four doors down from each
other in cottage country. Our sons are grown, we have found our life partners
and enjoy paddling down the lake for visits on hot, sunny days and
cross-country skiing when the temperature plummets on a gorgeous frozen
landscape.
We have shared life triumphs and tragedies...she more than
I. There were days when life seemed
senseless and almost unbearable. We
propped each other up....and looked for the small joys, when one flew....or
rather fell into her life.
A tiny newborn bird, tumbled from its nest, discovered by
her son, featherless, near death. He rushed
it to his Mom....the nurse.
With her finger nail she pried open its tiny beak, feeding
it pureed chicken every 20 minutes around the clock. She folded the tiny broken creature into a
sock, held it to her breast while she watched TV. Six weeks later Igor regales me by treadmilling
on a roll of toilet paper...he/she is a saucy little character playfully
landing on our heads and pecking at our watches and rings. We discover starlings are known for their intelligence;
their ability to learn to talk and interact with humans. Igor flies around the sunroom, and broke free
one day when he/she figured out how to open his/her cage door while on the back
deck.
Igor, Iggy for short, flew off to the lilac bushes and had rounded the
corner towards the road; hearts stopped
for a few short seconds before he/she flew back to the porch and...back to his/her
cage.
Terry smiles telling the story and we marvel at this tiny
bird brain which isn't so tiny after all , it seems. For two hours, along with her husband and her
dear dad, up for a visit from the nursing home he now calls home, we laugh at
the antics of this little spirit.
Life's trials and tribulations and almost overwhelming challenges are
forgotten. Terry says she feels like her
old carefree and happy self again.
One day we will learn if Iggy is a boy or a girl. In the meantime, when you consider starlings
can live for 30 years, well that's a lot of smiles and moments of pure,
unbridled feathery joy. And now we
marvel at the incredibly unbelievable yet undeniable power of a near broken
tiny being to give purpose, offer hope, dry up tears, release us from stresses
far greater than we can ever imagine and...make us smile.
