A reader asked me a question after I posted yesterday's scribble about my recovery from a stroke. She noticed an unusual tempering of my usual irascible and curmudgeonable outlook on life, which is no doubt very true.
You see, I journeyed from being a completely self-actulising and self-sustaining individual to being someone who was totally dependent on others to take care of my basic needs, in the blink of an eye. Suddenly, I was dependent upon round-the-clock nursing care, which after taking a couple of bad tumbles trying to get around by myself, I still need today. Fortunately for me, the cost of such care here in Ecuador is negligible even without any health insurance.
This dependency at the rather advanced age of 86 can only have a couple of outcomes, either a heightened degree of "woe is me" irascibility or a case of gratitude toward those who take care of me. I am happy to say that it was the heartfelt gratitude that won out in my case. I now have all of my mental faculties back and a very few physical hitches to contend with these days .... nothing that my trusty wheelchair and walking cane can't take care of. So yes, these days my general outlook on life is one of sunny gratitude rather than a harboring of any sour grapes.
