Good news of great joy. A very special baby arrived on this day (1 am.)
Welcome to our world, Miss Maisy Imogen Adams! Isn’t she lovely?
I feel she deserves a special mention on this blog because she belongs to Chris and Erin Adams, who have been such a close part of Vernon’s recovery journey from Day One. You will all remember Chris Adams, Vernon’s friend and small-business partner. (Check out the Stamp Foundry here.) We must have found out that Erin was pregnant shortly before the accident, and now she has got a BABY. Not a day too soon…in fact she was two weeks late, rising up to a healthy 9 lb 14oz! What a wonderful symbol of life going on, full of potential and goodness.
Chris sent the above photo. I have yet to meet Maisy, but I love her already! And Erin, you are a superstar for carrying that baby so long…then giving birth at home! Congratulations, Erin, Chris, and little Zephyr. We are so glad you are all in our lives.
‘A baby is God’s opinion that the world should go on.’ Carl Sandburg
On another note, I want to write down this story from today before I forget it.
I brought my lunch with me today so I could eat with Vernon, and in doing so I got to share a table with some other patients. I could be wrong, but it seems that people are more or less arranged at tables according to their ability to feed themselves, and it was the first time I saw Vernon doing better than his lunch-mates. He fed himself a few bites on his own before saying he was “about to burst.” I was still impressed. There was another very slim lady at my side who wouldn’t touch her food at all. I was afraid she couldn’t even talk, as many stroke victims there cannot. But after showing off the fresh picture of Baby Maisy on my phone, I asked her if she had children, and she said she has two, now in their twenties. I had to listen close to hear her, she was so week, but I felt it was good to include her. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how lonely and/or boring it must get for people too long in a convalescent home.
There was larger table with more dining patients nearby, and I overheard one of the aides asking an elderly lady if she could actually speak five languages. Nosy me, I turned around and asked her which languages she knew. With some help, she smilingly expressed: English, French, Italian, Arabic, Spanish. I think there was a dialect I had never heard of on that list too…so maybe she spoke more than five. Impressive indeed. She is from Morocco.
There is another lady across the hall from Vernon who is from Lebanon, but grew up in Paris, with a Yugoslavian mother. I hear her speaking Arabic with the Egyptian nurse, Joseph, from time to time. It must be so good to be stimulated by native language in these quiet days. It must feel more like home when speaks the language of your childhood in a place where one can feel so lost.
Back to the lunchroom: I started asking my frail table-mate if she spoke any other languages, and she said three: English, French, German. She said she had only learned them in school, so didn’t speak them well, but Vernon perked up at that. “I speak German too…just enough to get by,” he said.
I almost reprimanded him for making things up again, when I remembered he had indeed lived in Dusseldorf when he was a young painter. I guess he was telling the truth. “How many languages can you speak, Vernon?”
“English, French, German, Norwegian, and Latin,” he listed, very matter-of-factly, before adding: “Well, I don’t actually speak Latin, but I can read it.”
It was not lost on me that I was in the company of some great brains, linguistically-speaking. Here was capable, youngish me, knowing only one useful language (and some remnants of Spanish that I’m too embarrassed to actually use) and yet every day, I am active in the world. And here were all these intelligent minds trapped indoors, unable to be a part of the bigger world, just sitting in their chairs and lying in their beds, waiting for mealtime and hopefully, visitors. It was truly humbling.
It turned out that the quiet lady at our table was born in London and had moved here when she was five, but had just the slightest trace of an accent left. It was nice to see Vernon share a moment with her, reminiscing a little about the rain and the streets of London. People (yes, even those in Nursing Homes) are so much more interesting than their appearances, you just have to get them to open up a little… in any language you can.
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Allison, We can learn so much by being around people who we had thought could not carry on a conversation at all. It is good to hear Vernon saying things in a mixed group. Just hold on and he will be home with you before long.
Prayers are still coming your way..
Becky
Thanks Becky, for all your constant support….and for your notes: even though I often don’t respond, I see them all. much love to you!
Beautiful on so many levels…You are Allison….and so are those dear souls….!! You search and find Beauty wherever you are…..!!
what a very uplifting post today Allison.. very big congratulations to Chris and Erin ,on the news of their beautiful daughter Maisy!!
Your story from your lunch with Vern was very thought provoking, how many people would think about what residents could do/can still do beside sit in their chairs or lie in their beds??..their own experiences of life…? How very sad that they may get little time, in their day to express it, we all need to communicate and to be cared for, to be acknowledged.
We forget the languages we learnt at school (well i do) ..French and German,was the norm and Vern also learnt Latin at his school too.. Today Manderin seems to be taught alongside french/german in schools..although in many inner city schools (such as london where 300 languages are spoken)children have become multilingual to communicate with each other …
xx amour et câlins xx
Ah, how wonderful multicultural London is! Lucky us, that we do speak English, which everyone else has to learn as a second language if its not their first. I marvel at how children can pick up languages so quickly. I know I’d travel more if I had a better grasp of French, for example. Hmmm…maybe its time to take that class I’ve been meaning to for so long. Thanks for inspiring me!
Alison, your post reminds me of times with your mom and dad in PNG. So often during spontaneous visits, your dad would comment on the positives in ‘could be’ frustrating situation. I think about it often and it encourages me to do the same. Also experienced the same good experiences sitting at the table with my mom in a nursing home, with other women – how impressive their lives were & I was wishing that people would come in and sit with them, talk with them, and encourage them in the areas where they had expertise.
Allison As I’m reading your comments I was reminded of the scripture where God says He does not look on the outward appearance but on the heart! Thats such a challenge to me and I think to most people. The old saying “You can’t judge a book by its cover” is really true. I think its so wonderful that you not only had a visit with Vernon but with others that don’t get many visitors, which I think is a lot of the people there. The blog blessed me this morning.
Bless you Allison for caring for others like you do, especially when you have so much on your plate. You could get stuck in your part of the world, but yet you choose to make other lives better by including them. Who knows, that might be the only contact they have with other people. You cared enough to inquire and let them know they were not invisible. You got to touch someone’s life today and be a blessing probably more than you know. God bless you…
Another “chapter” in the book of life, both in the giving and receiving! I am always inspired by your writings.
Welcome Baby Maisy! We’re delighted you made it, just in time. 😉 Maybe Newport Subacute is where I should be working on my French language skillz!
Jen! I’m hoping that Ben will come in and speak some Arabic to the ladies I mentioned above. It would mean a lot I think! Maybe to him too!
How thrilling your blogs are!!!Thank you for taking the time to share this journey with us! I’m sure in later months and years, your writings will mean more to you than you can imagine…but for now- THANK YOU! It is so great to hear that Vernon is actually aware and communicating like that.
Congratulations to Chris and Erin. I think Maki almost feels she is another little sister the way he talked about Maisy.
The People in nursing homes and hospitals are People just like the rest, and most People will spend time in institutions. So many are sure they will never be in an institution even for a day in their lives. They are good Places, and so needed, but there has to be a change in attitude, especially With visiting. I think there will be, and you are helping With this blog, I think.
Big hug to you.