January 4, 2011
A new year. After trekking from PA to Texas, I feel … excited about the year ahead. Yes, I sat in the airport with John on our journey to and from for many hours more than we expected to linger. Yet, through all of the waiting, it was remarkable to see all the families and all the strangers just working together to get along. Not that there weren’t frustrations. We saw one father, mother, and teenage daughter who just missed a connecting flight… as in, the plane was still sitting just outside the big plate glass window but had already closed the door.
I noticed something during the waiting in the airport. Whether I wanted to eavesdrop or not, the crowded conditions and the accessbility of cell phones presented me with endless conversations among family members. Mostly they were keeping each other posted on flight delays and revised plans. But in so many cases, there was talk about how someone in the family was feeling now or whether someone in the family was well enough to be present for the holiday or if there was any news about a loved one’s recovery. In one case, a distressed young woman was talking to someone close to her about a mother’s drug and alcohol recovery. We got up and moved out of the mass of people in this case to avoid hearing so much of what was clearly painful to her. She moved as far as she could from the throngs. But there was just only so much space.
It’s personal. That is why it is so hard to talk about our health… and yet, that is why we must…. In this new year, we will take a closer look at some of the ways we can cope with talking about our health when it is… personal.
