Life in 2009: It’s Complicated But Holds Promise
Life in 2009: It’s complicated but holds promise, Part I
Wow, just when you think your hardest challenges might be behind you for awhile - the realities of the unknown - remind you just how unpredictable life can be - and tragedy strikes again.
As my daughter and I stood on the waterfront on New Years Eve, the bursts of fireworks lit the night sky and created a glistening effect upon the waves of the water - it was Magical! When the clock struck Midnight, I turned to my daughter and said, “Happy New Year Doll” and silently prayed, for this to be the year of answers for her.
As I struggled to hold back the tears, we toasted a birthday wish to one of my deceased sisters, it had become a family tradition of sorts. Joanie, that was her name, was born three minutes after midnight on January 1st, the first local birth that year. The local media were there and even recorded (LP) the event. My mother still has this record. Little did I know at that time, my mother would have to suffer the loss of yet another child, in only a few months. My tears were a mixture of past, present, and future events yet to unfold.
If life granted me only one wish for the rest of my days, without a second’s hesitation, it would be for my daughter. A wish to finally find a means of stopping her seizures. Not just for a day or maybe even two, but for the rest of her days and that those days would number many years. I closed my eyes and opened my heart as I prayed “May this be your will too God, In Jesus’ name, Amen.”
Secretly, I also hoped it would be God’s will to end our financial struggles. With so much loss, just in the past ten years, I was finally starting to see the light of day again. In the meanwhile, I told myself, we would appreciate each new day as a/the present [gift] of a new beginning to many wonderful future days.
We ended our celebration by starting, what would become a 20 minute long, succession of horn-blowing, that would involve hundreds of other vehicles. Parking on ground level, we decided to wait out leaving and remained in our parking spot, instead of making a mad dash to leave the parking facility. As each car passed (we were close to the exit), we yelled out our windows “Happy New Year” and blew the horn to several beats of “Knock, knock” to see if they would reply. Not only did they replay as they passed by, it started a chain reaction, all the way to the top parking level.
This would be a new year with new beginnings …
Diligently, I wasted no time upon rising each day. I would dedicate time to all the things that needed attention that day and apply myself to accomplishing one more small piece of the bigger puzzle we call life. This year, I would get us back on an even keel - and then some.
One of the many prime concerns brought double purpose. How could I create a steady income [with the current restrictions] and at the same time, offer a solution to make others’ lives easier as well? I started with a couple of lists actually. Weighing the pros and cons of the reality of our [my daughter and my] lives on one list, the other listed problems others were facing, that I was in a position to maybe offer a solution. Wow, talk about being complex. Lol, nobody ever said life was easy. I guess if it were, the world would be in much better shape?
They say knowledge is power and I’m a firm believer to a degree. See, it’s not enough to have knowledge alone, if you don’t know how to use that knowledge. Especially, if that knowledge is dependent on knowledge in other areas. Ouch, why does reality have to bite so hard at time? The good news there - Knowledge is empowerment, towards the power of making wiser choices.
This was another one of those situations that would take careful planning and much consideration. First, I was going to have to do some extensive research and draft a guideline. I decided I would enlist the help of my brother, closest to me in age. Although he was persistent in making some unwise choices, he had a genius IQ that led to ’seeing’ complex situations in a ’simple’ light.
After much debate and careful consideration, it was decided rather than start something new, we determined it was something I had already been working on for quite some time - that would offer the solutions I sought. With a plan in hand, my brother’s agreement to become my initial and chief beta tester, I set the wheels in motion. Why didn’t I think of this myself? Duh!
Actually, I had to laugh to myself - the consistent irony of my life - all complexities, quite simply, solved themselves in ways nobody can predict - and all I can ever do, is to do my best with 100% honest effort.
January quickly became February, which turned into March. Life passes by so fast, but I was getting so much done. Granted, I was working round the clock, but it was paying off better than I could have hoped.
Then, as March came towards its end, life had its own plans - once again. Another long day was coming to an end, only this night I planned on getting more than the usual 3 to 4 hours sleep. While techniqically, it was March 29th and the beginning of a new day, it was the close of the day for me. Wow almost 12:20 am, but still early enough to get a good six hours sleep.
As I started to doze off to sleep, I said an extra prayer. I don’t remember whether I finished it or not. The next thing I am aware of, is the ringing of my phone. Instinctively I answered as I swung my legs to the floor and sat upright. “Does everyone in this family think I never go to sleep,” I said opening the conversation. I couldn’t help but note the time: 12:42 am.
“O’Della, William’s been shot, he’s laying in the street bleeding and nobody will help him!” It was my mother’s voice, shaken and panicked. I’m not sure, to this day, if I went into a state of shock at that very moment or somewhere along the course of the night. “The police won’t tell me nothing and won’t let me help him! Nobody will call am ambulance, he’s just been lying there for over five minutes, I don’t know what to do!”
Immediately I told my mother I was on my way. As I am speaking the words to her, I had already made my way to my daughter’s bedroom, grabbing pants up my legs in route. “Doll, wake up!” God, she was such a heavy sleeper, due to her medications for seizures.
“Doll, you have to get up now, hurry it’s an emergency!” Obviously there was an urgency in my voice I hadn’t realized, but she did. You see, she is about the slowest moving person you will ever come across - bless her heart. But, that morning - she was up and dressed in less than 30 seconds and we were on our way out the door within the first 60 seconds. I’m grabbing keys, locking doors and trying to call my other brother, while getting my daughter in the car during this time.
What would follow would become a nightmare within a nightmare, that would only get worse …
“I’ve been here tens minutes myself, where the hell is the ambulance?” As I punched the numbers into my cell phone, the officer approached me - “What the hell do you think you’re doing lady?” asked the officer, “Who do you think you’re calling, hang up that phone?” As I turned my back to him and placed the phone to my ear, I didn’t need to see his face to know his anger when I heard him say, “you need to get back in your car with your daughter and stay there lady - I don’t care who you think you’re calling!”
To be continued:
Getting away with murder in Mobile, AL - Homicide Department doesn’t work weekends? SAY WHAT!!!
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