The Flower That Blooms in Adversity

"The flower that blooms in adversity is the most rare and beautiful of all." - from the Disney film, Mulan.

I have been trying not to talk about it, but it has been a hard week. One of the hardest I can remember, in fact. My oldest sister, with whom I have shared many grand adventures, ended up in the hospital on Saturday in critical condition, and the week has been a bit of a rollercoaster, with many ups and downs.

I am not sure I knew that this would be how it is. How I would awaken in the night and then lie sleepless, contemplating the miseries lurking just at the edges of things. How I would think about the possible worst outcomes, and all I could see ahead of me was a long, dark, suffocating corridor without any light at all. How any bad news would feel like a kick to the gut, leaving me breathless and heaving.

Or how I would rejoice at the simplest of good news, looking for reasons to find hope and cling to it, like an oar held out to a sinking man. Did she speak today? Did she have something to eat? Did she seem better? How were the test results?

I wanted to mention, by the way, that my sister's was the suffering I carried to the little chapel at Misericordia, where many prayers were offered on her behalf. I carry her suffering as my own. I hold my sister tight in my heart. I lift her up to the light. She is my first thought when my eyes open, my last thought at night. She is the one for whom I pray without ceasing.

Someday on these pages, I will tell you more of our history, and all of what my sister has done for me and been to me. And you will see quite clearly how so much of who and what I have become - and how much of what I have accomplished in my life - is thanks to my sister and her influence. But I can't get into any of that now. It will only make me cry.

So I will leave this blip with a wish and a prayer for my sister, and that is that she will live through this, and make a full recovery, and come out of this stronger than ever. And in short, I offer up for her this wish: that hard times will come around her no more.

The song to accompany this morning image of a rain-drenched lily blooming by my front doorstep is a tune written by Stephen Foster called Hard Times (Come Around Here No More). There are many wonderful covers of this tune, and here are three versions that I especially enjoy: Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen, and Emmylou Harris.

P.S. I am adding this update several years later: I am happy to report that my sister LIVED and got well again!  Hooray!