Regrets

I was going to write an entry about regrets because I have so many. Things I wished hadn’t happened to me. Things I wish I hadn’t done. I thought it would be a good exercise to help me heal.

Funny thing is, as I sit here and actually try to write them done, they just don’t seem that important at the moment.

Last night JT and I went to a gallery showing of artists who, through their art, depicted the 30 year history of the AIDS pandemic. My daughter in law was one of the over twenty artists that were asked to participate. She has done a photo essay of her patients who are living positively with AIDS. It is very moving and uplifting. The other artists showed more of the awful history and the loss. The show is called Witness. Very impactfull.

I am of that age and have a strong memory of the 1980’s and the fear and horror of the times. There was, and is, a large population of gay people here. Many of them came home to die in the late eighties. We even had a hospice in the area. Way too many died.

My dil as a teen volunteered there. It gave her her goal in life. Her patients and friends told me last night that she is one of the few that really cares and wants to help them…no matter what there background or history.

She told me a story once of having a transsexual patient that had to go to the hospital through the emergency. She didn’t want to go for some reason. Because she trusted LP, she told her she needed a change of underwear and had no one to help her. LP went and bought her what she needed so she would let herself be admitted. Who knows a doctor that would do that?

I have so much respect for her. I know some days are hard and I can’t even imagine the sadness and fear she sees. And sometimes, the loss.

She mostly works with drug addicts (some recovering, some not) and mothers and children with either HIV or AIDS.

So, my request to everyone today is to have compassionate thoughts and find a way to help those in need. No condemnation. We could be in their shoes. It is NOT just a gay disease. I read that something like 30% of the infected population do not know they have it.

Compassion is the word for today and thoughout the year.