Report from Pillville: The Vascular Surgeon and A Gift from a Stranger

The vascular surgeon is tied with the neurologist as my favorite doctor. (The neurologist always asks about me. What I'm doing to take care of myself. If I'm getting two full days off every week. He means 48 hours. I'm not, but I'm close if you add up all the things I do for myself.) The vascular surgeon is the doctor who told my mom to quit smoking. You've already smoked your last cigarette is how he put it. My mom had 2 vascular procedures in the first year of living with me. She's been stable for a long while. Yes, there are still blockages, but not so severe as to require surgery.

Yesterday while we were waiting in the reception area at the doctor's office, my mom told another woman how much she liked her jacket. It was a denim jacket with embroidered butterflies, the neck and the sleeves bordered by beads. The two of them were chatting when I stepped out to go to the restroom. When I came back my mom was already in the exam room. I was ushered back and then a minute later a nurse came in with the jacket, neatly folded. She told my mom that the woman in the waiting room wanted her to have it. My mom literally squealed with delight and hugged the jacket to her like it was a teddy bear. We were both speechless. Of course medical privacy and all that means we can't get the woman's name and address. But the nurse told me that I could bring a note to her at the office, and she'd see that the mysterious benefactor gets it. We're going to enclose a couple of my mom's hand crocheted snowflakes with the card. I've schedule it as my Thursday errand.

Life feels full of gifts and beautiful surprises right now. I know it won't always be thus. But this is how it is in Pillville these days. Butterflies, birds singing, sweet voices, surprises.