Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Happy One Year


One year
So much joy
So many tears.
Still can´t walk.
Still can´t talk.
Does she need to?
Not really for everyone understands her language.

One year
Got to meet grandpa
Got to sit in his lap
Got to be rocked to sleep
When she arrives in grandpa´s favorite room, she looks for him
But there is only gloom and she frowns.

One year
We celebrate life;
We celebrate health.
She brings happiness and joy into our lives;
Each and every day with her toothless smile;
It just melts our hearts.

One year!
May there be many more and may this list grow longer.
One year!

Written: March 27, 2017 For my niece Ana Clara who has just turned one on this very day.
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Photo: Meire Marion


Saturday, March 25, 2017

Breakfast in Bed

You wake up not knowing whether it is Saturday, Sunday or Monday. It seems like it is really early and the effects of your sleeping pills still haven’t worn off. When you realize where you are, you get up and decide to have breakfast in bed. It seems like something special because, after all, you have been sick all week; so, naturally breakfast in bed seems like a good way to celebrate the recovery.
 You get to the kitchen stumbling on the cats, make a small breakfast of toast and coffee and return to bed. You don’t take the tray because all you are carrying is a cup of coffee and milk and a plate with some toast.
You sit, make yourself comfortable, and put the plate on your lap and the coffee mug on the night stand beside your bed. But then again, you think of the cats that can jump and knock over the mug. Therefore, you place the coffee mug near your legs and leaning on them so as to keep it in place. All of a sudden you spill the hot cup of coffee and milk and try as fast as you can to clean it up. Two layers of bed sheets and a spread later you see the huge stain on the mattress. You run to get the cleaning products; wash; scrub; wash; scrub.
You do the best you can but then you have a brilliant idea- use the hairdryer to dry it. No, bad idea. Ten minutes later the dryer stops working.
Ok stop everything look out the window and be grateful you didn't burn your leg although now you have to do laundry and get the hairdryer fixed.
When you look out the window you see this beautiful sky (see picture below) and it all makes sense. It all happened for several reasons but one of them was for you to stop and look out the window. Many lessons can be learned from this episode, but I will just list three.
1.    A naturally born clumsy person should not eat breakfast in bed without using the tray to keep everything neat and safe.
2.    If you were bedridden all week, the best thing to do is go out for breakfast and not have breakfast in bed.
3.    Hairdryers are to dry hair and not mattresses.
Happy Saturday everyone!


Written: March 25, 2017 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion

Photo taken by Meire Marion from  bedroom window on March 25, 2017

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

The Power of Prayer


7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
Matthew 7.7

If you google the title of this post, you will find several blogs and articles with the same title. Could it be a coincidence? Are people less creative nowadays?  The need to share God’s work is growing, therefore, people use this title to tell the reader that that is what they are going to talk about: God’s work through prayer.

 In Matthew 7. 7/8  7“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. The word of God tells us to pray and we will get what we ask for. You can be sure that God is listening and answering each and every prayer. The answers are always for our best. Even though sometimes the answer might be no. God gives you what is best for you. His plans are greater than ours. We weep when a relationship is over, we think that we are being punished for something, but God is good all the time. Like a true parent he tells us what is good for us and takes away what is bad. Although we are not aware of this.

My prayers are answered. I know that sometimes I get upset and do not understand what God’s plans are. In the end, I think it is ok because I am not God. If I were, then I would understand the reason why people die, why little children suffer in broken homes, why the disease of the century is cancer, why there is poverty, why there is suffering, and so on.

One thing I have learned throughout these years is that my prayers are answered. I always pray “Thy will be done” . Thy is God not me, therefore, when something happens it is part of His plans and not mine.
The readers here have followed the last few years of my dad. I have written some stories about his disease and his passing (I am grateful for all those who have read them). Every day I prayed for my dad not to suffer and that God would do what was best for my dad and not for me. I truly believe that the best for my dad was to pass away and go back into God’s arms. Some of you might think: this is crazy, who wants their loved ones to die? I did not want my dad to die; I just wanted what was best for him. And to see him suffer was way too painful.

Speaking of dad, I spent most of my time taking care of him and making sure he had a comfortable life until his passing. However, I have my own health issues that I need to deal with. Nonetheless, to take care of dad was a pleasure so my health issues were set aside into a pause mode, which I call grace; God’s grace, giving me the energy and the power to dedicate my life to that man who gave up so much for me: my dad. Nonetheless, deep down inside I knew that my health issues would catch up with me eventually when I had no one to care for anymore. It took a while but it has finally hit me.

I have been feeling under the weather and in great pain since Saturday. My doctors always ask me to grade the pain from 0 to 10, which sometimes I find silly because some people can stand pain greater than others so my 3 is for sure different from others. Anyhow, yesterday I went to the hospital and when asked to grade my pain I said 12. Mind you, I can tolerate pain, when you see me smiling and going on with my daily routine, I am in pain. I feel pain 24/7 but as I said, I can tolerate pain through grace. The nurse laughed at my answer but the doctor was worried, therefore, we decided to use a strong pain killer. Pain subsided and I went home; lab tests were clear, therefore it was my mysterious bone marrow disease acting up (a long story that has been mentioned in former posts).

Later on during the day, the grade 12 pain returned with all its fury. Let’s hit it with morphine, said my neurologist through the phone. Sadness hits you and all the side effects that the drug can cause come to mind, but the body is throbbing in pain and you think `what the heck, just take it.`

Before this though, a friend came over and after a long talk we prayed. We prayed for help. We did not pray for a cure because I have been cured and this I know. How do I know? Because God does not do things badly done; He does them perfectly. Meaning that even though I am in pain all the time, I can walk and my body works despite the fact that my doctors do not know how. According to medical books, I was not supposed to walk again. Once again, prayer, thy will be done. In short, I woke up feeling less pain and was able to get a good night’s sleep and even had a great dream ( I will write about it in another post).

So, to conclude, pray. It is simple. You can pray anywhere and anytime. Believe in your prayer and be grateful for the answer that you get. Remember, whatever the answer may be, it is for your best.


(Written: March 22,2017 )
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Photo: Google Images



A Month Has Gone By

A month has gone by, but in reality it seems like years. One month since the passing. I could never imagine it would be so hard. Miss dad so much!
No more smiles, no more laughs, no more being informed about the local and international news, no more jokes, no more hugs, no more "I love yous", no more teachings, no more scoldings. All these things I miss when I think about my DAD. Heaven is the right place for him. I realize that time is a healer and one day we will meet again. But for now immense SAUDADES. ( There isn't a better word to describe what I feel.)
 


Written: March 12, 2017 Todos os direitos reservados a Meire Marion


Photo: Meire Marion : DAD