Happy 2022, y’all! Man, 2021 was a weird year. Wild and wooly, I’ve called it. It started out terrible with the pandemic still raging on. Then, vaccines! That brought some hope. I got fully vaxxed and cautiously opened up my life a bit. I went from being a hermit, not going anywhere but the pharmacy once a month to going twice to Cubs within a few weeks. Hey, I wasn’t going crazy, but I did feel a sense of optimism. That was in May/June. Then, September 3rd happened.
My life will forever be split into before September 3rd and after it. It’s funny because that’s my parents’ anniversary. Probably not a good association for them now. My brother called them on September 3rd at night, which would be September 4th their time. I know he said to them something like, “Minna is in the hospital and it’s very serious.” I’m sure he told them everything that happened to me in a bald fashion because that’s the way he operates. When I came to, he told me everything, including the fact that I should have died. And the fact that I should have brain damage, not to mention difficulty walking and talking.
My favorite story is when my brother told me that he was talking to two social workers about my situation. They were asking how he was doing because that’s their job. He looked at them and said fine. They probed a bit more and he said bluntly, “If she dies, she dies. I can’t do anything about it.” I burst out laughing because I could imagine the look of horror on their faces. My brother is probably on the spectrum, though he’s never been diagnosed, and his way of dealing with emotions is to–not. It’s not that he doesn’t feel things; he does. It’s just that he feels them differently and expresses them differently than most people do.
My brother shows he cares by doing things. He’s always been like that. One time, it was like fifty below zero with windchill and I got a flat tire because a nail punctured it on the way to work. I called my brother after work and he promptly drove to my workplace and changed my tire. Another time, I was at my Taiji demo in twenty below weather. My car wouldn’t start and I called my brother to come do something about it. He managed to make my car start, thankfully. He’s my go-to guy when I need something fixed mechanically or electronically. In return, I listen to his problems and give him suggestions after hours of griping. He’s my fix-it guy and I’m this therapist. It works for us!