Page 113 - People & Places In Time

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A Brief Encounter
The other day, as it happened, I was sitting in a doctors’ waiting room, in Santa Barbara. Jackie, my wife was in for an appointment with her doctor and there’s not much
one can do, while in this situation but wait. I was reading a book, but I was also listening to the conversation between two ladies sitting across from me. From the moment they came through the door, they were talking. I’m sure this was just the continuation of a more involved conversation than I was privy. One lady was perhaps nearer my age, while the other appeared six or eight years older and she was the reason, besides my wife, that we shared this space. Each was well dressed and attractive, clearly both well educated and intelligent. The younger had brought the older in for her appointment. The one lady had recently spent some time in the hospital, and it was her difficulties that formed the substance of their conversation.
You might have thought this was a downer of a discussion far from it. Yes, they were talking about the recent hospital stay and resulting treatments. But what caught my attention was the tenor of their speech, so very pleasant to hear. It wasn’t the words but the sound of their voices, almost like music. Obviously, they were very close, but even more, each has an upbeat and very pleasant outlook.
When the one went in, to see her doctor, I put down my book, engaging the lady who remained across from me as to “how much I enjoyed listening to them” as they talked.
She looked up and smiled, “thank you”.
“Are the two of you friends” I asked?
“Yes, we’ve known each other quite a long time.”
She was as pleasant to speak with as listen too.
“They both had been nurses at Cottage Hospital . . . since thirty years before.”
They had maintained “the close relationship that developed while working together.” Our conversation continued as small talk about her life as head of pediatric nursing at
Cottage Hospital and my experience at the same hospital. Both of us . . . waiting.
These two share an intimacy and familiarity that I could only admire. I think, this is
a rare relationship between friends; one that for myself, I haven’t known. Not only do they have the common experience of a professional life, but each possess the ability to not place barriers between each knowing the others experience; empathy is part of this, not a superficial relationship. This is where the English language does not have a word for this kind of love.
Shortly the other lady returned, not really grumpy but saying little, as if her appointment had not gone well; “let’s go” she said.
I said “goodbye” and that was that. It was a brief encounter with someone whom I was sure, that I would like to have spent more time.
Journal entry ~ March 2, 2015
Desert Gulch ~
April 22, 2015