A Blast from the Past

Suffice it to say that we are things continue to happen, one after my stroke. This is a tale of one of those situations.

I had a female friend who hailed from a foreign country, for now it doesn’t matter which one. Let’s call her Susie, for now anyhow. I met Susie under strange circumstances years ago. We communicated, long-distance, by phone and computer for a long time. One day I was particularly harried at the office, and Suzy called on the phone. “Today’s a really crappy day,” I said to her on the phone. We often shared the good and the bad in our weird telephonic relationship. “I feel like shooting myself in the head right now,” I said in my particularly American, over the top way. We chatted a couple more minutes and I went on about my business.

Flash forward – many hours later. The phone rings. It’s Suzie. “I will be there in a few hours,” she informed me, and hung up. I wasn’t going to be! I called my son who happen to live with me and warned him that some stranger from a foreign land would be descending upon the house looking for me. As always, my son expected the unexpected. He let her in. I arrived later. I found them out by the pool sipping a beer.

We had a fabulous, romantic, sexy friendship for a while. I don’t quite know what happened. She was making a trip back home and we did a little he said/she said, and it was over. But it was a very memorable couple of months.

Flash forward – a year and a half after my stroke. Facebook is an amazing thing. I get a message from somebody named Susie Jones. Either no one is Susie Jones. I do, fondling, remember Susie though. It’s her! Out of nowhere. Somewhere in the dim past of my memory every member Suzy got married. Well, Suzy was informing me that she was now divorced. She was just using Facebook to catch up with old friends and acquaintances. She saw my picture, and wrote. And we wrote, and talked, and wrote, and talked, you get the picture. As soon as Susie gets her passport – she’ll be here.

Probably a couple weeks after a move into the new house. I can’t wait to see her. Although, I have to wouldn’t, I tried desperately to dissuade her. I had her stroke… unemployed… paralyzed on the right side… old man now (as always, the women in my life were substantially younger than me)… not working… broke… you get the picture.

Now you have to remember, Susie was an athlete. A world-class skater until she busted ankle. A dancer, a sportsman. A model. You get the picture.

Susie’s response, “You will never believe this. I went back to school, became a nurse, and am currently working in a rehab center helping stroke victims. We can do rehab. We can go horseback riding together. Lots of stroke victims do that as rehabilitation…” Okay, how do I turn down an offer like that? I mean, seriously.

I’ll keep you posted.