Insights:
1. Beth's husband wasn't able to receive health care because they couldn't afford it until they applied for help
2. Beth having to deal with both of her children experiencing and dealing with her husband/ their father's death in their own unique way
3. Husband went from looking " movie star handsome" to very sick/ ill looking
4. Making the difficult choice of having to shelter her kids from their fathers death
5. Choosing to care for her husband 24/7 personally instead of relying solely on the doctors help
6.Beth and her husband never used the word death or dying with each other
Number 6:
What I find very interesting is that Beth and her husband never used the word death or dying around each other period. I was very unfamiliar with this. Usually every time I visited the hospital those words were mentioned, because we felt as though we had to be honest with them. There's always the possibility you can die, especially if your in the hospital. When my family had to deal with my grandmother's upcoming death, the adults in the family had a meeting with her to let her know in about 3 months max she was expected to die as the doctors told them. Another thing that was amazing to me was the fact that Beth took the initiative to personally take care of her husband. This is something that I'm kind of familiar with but not exactly to the extent that Beth went. When my grandmother was sick in her final months my mom and my aunt took turns taking care of my grandmother, so that they could also continue their lives and support the family. One last thing I noticed was how close Beth's husband was to his children. I have always been close to my mom however, she works nights so I was babysat until age 12. There would even be some days where I didn't see my mom at all. This could have ended up very badly for me, but luckily I never made to stupid of decisions that I couldn't undo somehow. Being close to their father must have made things immensely difficult for Evan and Josh, I have no idea how they did it.
One idea that I thought of during Beth's presentation that I already knew but didn't really experience was life is constantly on a tilt. It can change in the blink of an eye for the better or the worse. Saying it and experiencing it is very different as some people know. No matter who you are or what you do anything can happen to you. The richest and the poorest person you know could die from cancer, get into a car crash, or just die of natural causes. No one is invincible and illness and dying is something that everyone must deal with at least once. That's just a part of being human
Abdul- I like how you connected some aspects of Beth's story to your own experiences ("this is something that I'm kind of familiar with") but recognized areas which were difficult for you to relate to entirely ("I have no idea how they did it").
ReplyDeleteI also like how you ended with the idea of life being unpredictable and fragile, able to "change in the blink of an eye for the better or for the worse."
Do you think that people who truly understand the transience of life (including perhaps now you) appreciate and enjoy life more, or live in greater fear and reluctance to commit emotionally to anything?
Abdul- I think it's very good that you compared parts of "Beth's" story to personal life experiences that you had. At about our age lots of people will begin to go through the phase of life where they must begin dealing with illness and dying whether indirectly or directly. " Usually every time I visited the hospital those words were mentioned, because we felt as though we had to be honest with them." Another good thing you did was mention that life is constantly changing " it can change in the blink of an eye for the better or for the worse." One thing that we all can't really prepare ourselves for is the death of our parents. That will perhaps be one of the top 5 hardest times of my life.
ReplyDeleteAbdul, I like that you took the most interesting parts out of Beth's presentation and related them to yourself. That makes the connection and importance of what she is talking about all the more real. You also did a very good job at showing the extraordinary in what Beth did. Finally, I think your last paragraph ties together the rest of your blog post very well by bringing out the most interesting and insightful point you got from her presentation.
ReplyDelete