A Most Insightful and Soul Stirring Story

My eyes are not as good as in the past...this being extremely disturbing to me as I have never needed the aid of glasses. I am now noticing that while reading or giving kitty kisses, the words and those beautiful furry faces become blurred when they are too close to my face...so last week I reluctantly went for a check-up. I had cancelled the appointment several times but finally committed on Tuesday.

One eye is better than the other, no drastic results, just reading glasses. I was in agony trying on thin rectangular frames that looked so foreign in the mirror. I was so not happy about this. The attendant sensed my mood and tactfully left me alone while I rapidly put on almost 50 frames. I finally found one. While she entered my info, somehow we ended up discussing cancer. We both knew doctors who had misdiagnosed patients who were strickened with this devastation. Cancer is so prevalent in our area. She shared a story with me that was very poignant, very thought provoking, and very difficult to forget...

The attendant, I will call her Paula, would visit or stay in a cancer center located in Lexington, KY for days or weeks while her mother received treatments. She met others sharing her sad circumstances, and together the families slowly got to know one another. She met a new friend whose husband's suffering began as severe back pain. He was a construction worker and was constantly told his problems were muscular. Months went by as several docs failed at finding the cause until finally the tumor was found at the very entrance of the colon but by then it was too late. The reason it was missed was due to the camera not being turned on until it was thoroughly inserted into the colon. This poor man endured several unnecessary colonoscopies due to sloppy procedure. Needless to say, these two woman became fast friends and continue to stay in touch to this day.
On September 11, 2001, the Kentucky man was lying in his hospital bed at home watching TV. He and his wife had two children, both in school. The man quickly called for his wife to see the news flash showing one of the World Trade Center towers on fire with that awful billowing smoke surrounding the top floors. If you will remember, those early reports did not reveal exactly what was going on...nobody knew it was a plane in the very beginning...

The man became alarmed. Something bad was happening in the world. He wanted his wife to pull the children out of school immediately. The wife refused at first. Then the man noticed all of these birds; a huge flock of birds were flying around the burning tower. "Honey, do you see all of those birds?" he asked. The wife replied "What birds? There are no birds flying around!" The man insisted there were birds and the wife thought something really strange was happening to her husband! He never acted like this before. He again insisted that the children be brought home. Then the man began to see a bit more clearer, and said "Oh, you are right, those aren't birds, they are angels! So many angels, look at all of them!" Again, the wife saw nothing but did notice her husband began talking to someone else...he was saying words like "yes, ok, ah uh," words that were in agreement with whatever he was hearing. He ignored her while she was asking who he was talking with, so she went into the kitchen to call the school to release their children. Upon her return to his bed, she found her husband had died. It is obvious that my eyes will see a bit better once I receive my glasses, but I must admit, this eye opening story allows me to see so much more metaphorically speaking. How coincidental that I heard this story while at the ophthalmologist!