A Reminder of Worse Times

Last Saturday when we were on our "Get Out the Vote" Walk, I ran into an old friend. She's a mental health counsellor. But she has created some wonderful classes over the years that are open to the community.

I took one having to do with keeping our brains healthy as we get older. I still use some of the tips.

But about six years ago I took a class for people who were going through serious crises. I needed it at the time.

Sitting next to me was a younger woman who had a debilitating disease - one that kept her in constant pain. After a couple of hours of lecture and conversation our leader (my friend) asked that we make collages depicting our feelings about our situations. She provided magazines, paste, scissors, markers and poster board.

When we finished we held up our works of art and explained them. The Young Woman in Constant Pain's collage depicted flowers and blankets and puppy dogs and hot soup. Mine depicted clouds, skulls, lightening, and words like DEATH and DESPAIR, layered over a black background. I was quite proud of it.

This past Saturday I reminded my friend of that day - and how things have changed - and thanked her for helping me get through a very bad time.

She laughed and said,

"And I didn't have you Baker Acted!"

And I said,

"Well, thank you for that too!"


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