Pretty disturbed

Made a phone call on Friday to a friend, MS whom I have not kept in contact for long. The intention was to ask to see if I could arrive at her house earlier than the rest who are also planning to visit her that evening. The reason for the visit? One of my friends, DW said she had a brain op last year and it would be good to drop by to see how she was coping.


The thing is, DW did not impress upon us enough how serious the condition MS was in.


The phone call nearly left me in tears. What came from the other end of the line was a weak, feeble voice speaking very slowly, a voice which most could easily recognize as coming from a half-paralyzed person.


What happened to the once bubbly MS? Remembering MS as a tremendously witty girl from RGS with the all too natural sincere heart, she has not been given the kind of life she should live for.. What made me sank further into distraught was after she revealed that it was not convenient for me to come down as her granny has just passed away. This is double whammy information for me. A nice girl who has been wasted to that level and now having lost a granny in CNY period....


That was it. I decided to go straight to the wake. Inside me, I had the most dreaded feeling of how she would look like. I imagined half her hair shaven clean with an exposed skull. Certainly I was not prepared to see a beautiful, intelligent girl being reduced to that state.

Arriving there, I was greeted by the relatives. MS was still at home and I got some chance to learn more about her. She was a "hopeless case" as deemed by the doctors, but one matron pleaded with them to try their best. The docs did, and a miracle came. Not only did she recover, she was able to have some recollections of the past and was even able to use her fore limbs.

Soon she arrived in a wheelchair.
Bracing myself, I turned my head..

Phew! It wasn't so bad. She still looked equally radiant. The hair had grown back, and save for putting some slight weight, she was still as MS as ever.... Nothing was lost.. her smile was there.. her cheerfulness and optimism continued to shine beyond her disability.

We spent some time chatting and catching up the good old days... She still remember the huge termite mound which we took pictures with. And yes, she mentioned the many Indian children we took picture too. Her recollection was simply impressive, and it was just this goodness of sincerity, of kindness, of nature, of children.. that makes her as endearing as she was to all of us.

Time flew while little conversations were made. Her pet hermit crab in a tank made her charged up about it and she was telling me to quietly observe it. She was eager to introduce ALL her relatives to me...

MS taught me the ignonimities of life. Sure, I have read many books, Chicken soup for the soul, etc... but this was a friend whom in my entire life, is the first to have experienced this transformation. It has never felt so real. Another friend who called me to arrange for a gathering told me she cried after speaking to her on the phone. But I'm determined to bring as many people to visit her as much as possible. All of us want good things to happen to MS. She deserves it and we all think so.