New Lives! in A New Beginning

I talk on the phone with my sister Carol almost every day. Today I told her that I was proud of her for the way she is living her life, and said that if I get to be her age (she’s 75), I hope I will do a lot of the things she does.

Once upon a time (five or more years ago especially), I never would have said this. Carol used to be a very unhappy alcoholic, divorced five times, and just chronically miserable (and making others that way too). But six years ago she lost her job because the drycleaners she was slaving (er I mean working) for went out of business. She had to give up her own home and move in with her daughter. She made everyone miserable with her misery, and broke two bones by falling off steps when she was drunk. She quit drinking....YAAAAAY!!....but it wasn’t long after that, that she was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It was bad, so she had radical surgery that removed her bladder, uterus, and part of her intestines. And that left her having to wear a urostomy bag. That is a very big change....not one anybody would ever wish for…and it also took her about a year to recover physically from the ordeal. She was terribly, terribly depressed. But she quit smoking and never went back to it, and she also never went back to drinking. Her second year post-surgery was a little better, health-wise, and she also began taking a prescription anti-depressant that helped.

Now, she is doing GREAT!!!!! For two years we felt pretty sure we were not going to have her much longer. She did not want to be around much longer, as bad as she felt. But things slowly changed direction for her… and ya know what? For the past couple of years, my sister Carol has been a HAPPY person!! She has changed so much! She used to be so lonely because she was too timid to go out and do things on her own. Now she goes to a church she really likes every week, and takes part in some of their activities and has made friends there. And she joined her town’s Parks & Rec, where she goes to the gym five days a week and also has friends. She drives herself a lot more places than she used to, and even goes to a near-by county park and goes walking on her own! She is a voracious reader, AND she now loves to color. Thank goodness for the popularity of adult coloring books! :o) !! I am just so tickled nowadays, seeing how happy my Sis has become. :o) !! I have always believed that people CAN change for the better at any point in their lives! And I love seeing examples of it, especially when they are people I love.