Holiday Kindness And My Gratitude

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I have been complaining about how much misunderstanding a chronic illness sufferer would receive in her/his daily life, which is true, but, still, there are plenty of understanding out there, to which I am not blind. The incidence of last night was one of them.

Yesterday (Christmas Eve) I was invited by a parent of my student to a Christmas dinner party. It was a joined family parties by at least 3 families, which I know them all. I thought I was in good condition so I happily agreed to come. So late afternoon, I went to bought some presents, and arrived their house a little after 5pm.

The 8 year-old daughter of the hosting family who is also my student opened the door with joy (she later mentioned to me that she had a big surprise to see me). Then I said hi to a few people I knew, very happy to see a couple of my previous students, who only grew taller. Since it was still earlier, I just sat there and talked with a few people intermittently. About half hour later, I started feeling not "right", and to my dismay I realized that my good condition was about to end. For about 20 minutes' length, I struggled between stay or leave, but soon after I found it's harder and harder for me to breath, I knew I must leave, otherwise I would give hosts and guests some trouble.

So I went to talk to lady host - who is an extremely kind and agreeable young woman, that I must leave, but I didn't want to disturb all people. She first thought that I must need to lie down, so she pointed out a small bedroom, asked me to lie down for a while. I said that wouldn't work, because things could get worse. So she "frantically" asked me to take some foods, but I said I didn't want to trouble them. However she still quickly packed some baked sweet potatoes and home-made cake for me, walked to the door with me. Along the way, several people realized that I was leaving, asking what happened, so I reassure them that I just needed to rest, nothing serious, and apologized for my unexpected condition. Several people who knew me immediately come to me and asked what's wrong, one of them even asked if I needed a ride to home. I said I can handle driving. The lady host watched me getting into my car, and I drove away.

It's a shame that I missed the foods, hot pot, my hometown style, with all kinds of fresh meats and vegs. However, after a night of struggle and a good sleep, I feel pretty good today, and know that I made the right decision. What's especially warm to think about is how kind these people were: though they did not know what's really going on with me, they still showed their support. No one were offended. It's worth to mention that last night's invitation was the third time that lady made for me (the previous were for Thanksgiving) and this is the first time I decided to go (due to my health condition I had to turn down numerous invitations all these years and many of them were offended). Still, when she saw I had to leave, she showed her great concern and her unconditional understanding.

I feel extremely grateful and thought it's worth to write it down. I also like to take this chance to thank all my blogger friends, thanks for your visiting and commenting, and wish you all a happy holiday!