Thursday, June 18, 2009

Life Force and Life Lessons...

Last week my youngest brother ended up in the hospital. He has a condition called allergic gastritis and gets ulcers from it. This time he lost so much blood that he had to get 3 units of blood while he was in the hospital. He's been hospitalized for this before but it was worse this time. Luckily they cauterized the ulcer and once his blood count started going up they sent him home. He was only in for a few days but as I'm sure many will agree that even one day in the hospital is one too many. He has already had more tests, needles and drugs than I will probably ever have in my whole life. I do not envy him.

We were talking a few days ago and he mentioned how he was kind of freaked out that he has someone else in him now because of the transfusion. It's not because of the potential for disease but just because of the fact that someone else's blood is mixing with his own. He's grateful that his life was saved but it still freaks him out that some else's life force is running through his veins. Our conversation really made me think about who we are not only on a physical level but also on a spiritual level. What are we really? How much of the physical vs spiritual are we? Can we really separate the two? And if not then how much of someone else do we really take in when we receive a gift like my brother did? It also made me think of how things seem to happen for a reason and how we should always try to look for the lessons an experience in life can teach us. I am really thankful for my "little" brother. Even though he is 8 years younger than me he has already taught me many lessons in life.

This week we were able to enjoy a concert at the Ark in Ann Arbor. He and I went to see Alejandro Escovedo perform. The concert rocked and we had great time! We don't get to spend much time together so it was nice to have the opportunity. It was especially meaningful after the events of last week.

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