She caught my eye immediately as she boarded the bus... with enormous difficulty.
She was a big woman in a flowing dress.
She dragged herself to pay the fare, and dragged herself into the bus,
gratefully taking the reserved seat in the front.
Painfully settling into the seat.
What caught me was not the pain, nor the difficulty.
On the bus, that is a common occurrence...
What caught me was her radiant smile, which went straight into her eyes!
Her story was wrenching... and inspiring.
She had been a pediatric nurse, in plastic surgery and in oncology
She loved children. They inspired her. And she inspired them.
And then 16 years ago, the arthirtic pain, always present, had became a monster.
She couldn't escape its dominance over her life. Over her very being.
So over powering that she was drawn more and more to the 'bridge'.
The only escape.
A friend talked to her, and succeeded!
Her will was resolved.
To live and to find another solution to the devastating pain.
She found it.
The Center for Chronic Pain.
She returned to work.
It was never expected.
She returned full time.
It was never expected.
And when it was time to retire, she retired triumphant.
The secret?
"I wanted to live... with joy!"
