25
October
2006
A dear friend visited us yesterday evening. He’s a young priest in the northern part of the country, recently moved to a new parish and we haven’t seen him for almost a year so there were lots of stories to tell over a glass of wine.
The best one: ” In this new parish, we have a large population of Catholic gypsies. We almost never see them at the Mass, but they visit quite often to take oaths”
“Oaths?!”
“Oh yes. The come in church with one or two witnesses to swear on the Bible they won’t drink alcohol for a fixed period of time. I have to write it down on a piece of paper for them, because they find it more binding this way.”
“Why do they do that?”
“It’s usually because they are in danger of losing their job because of the drinking. Their employers know the power an oath of this kind has on them so if they present the piece of paper they are usually safe. Some of them come urged by their wives that threaten to leave them if they don’t do it. However, there was this one couple …..”
A large smile develops on his face.
“The woman was a drop dead gorgeous teen. Incredible. Even I couldn’t help but be stunned when I saw her. Her husband was a stubbly guy in his mid-forties. I went to him and asked what he wanted - they were there for an oath, he said. I told him to place his hand on the Bible and start repeating after me the oath’s text. He looked confused and stepped back. I asked him what was wrong.”
“And?”
“And then he told me: Father, it’s not me who has to vow not to drink..
….it’s the missus”
Posted: chestii
19
October
2006
Adina came back from a week-long vacation and the Ambulatoriu is filled with people. I’ve also had my request for the remaining vacation days approved - so I’ll be home next month from the 6th to the 30th. I intend to spend those days teaching Timi lots of words in both Romanian and Hungarian, cooking yummy foods, doing petit point and reading the forensic Psychology books a certain Californian has sent me. Oh, and going to Robi’s middle sister’s wedding. Posting of slightly drunken people’s pics from Miercurea Ciuc should be expected after the event.
Yesterday’s “You think your life sucks?” case was a lady from the mountains, suffering from depression. Asked about the source of her condition, she told me how she married young, and two or three years after the wedding she discovered her husband had an affair with her mom.
“Pardon me?” said I , reaching for my jaw which dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
“Yes, I even caught them doing it once .. but I suspect he was involved with her prior to our marriage, after all, he almost never touched me, even as newlyweds.”
“Any concrete evidence for that?”
“No .. but tell me, if not, why was he having sex with me at most 2-3 times a year? And why, when he sensed the slightest sign that I was enjoying what we were doing, he preferred to stop than to let me feel pleasure?”
After a few years of being faithful to somebody who couldn’t care less, she started having violent headaches, to which no doc could find an organic explanation (… duh). She then sunk into depression, got out , sunk again and so on. For twenty years out of twenty-five of marriage.
“How come you didn’t divorce?”
“I’m an Orthodox, miss .. I spoke to a few priests and they told me to have patience and bear my cross .. I also hoped he would change, maybe see that he should be with me, not my mom and return to the family.”
“So you have kids with him?”
“Two boys - the older is in Spain, the other is 20 and living with me. He probably knows what’s happening”
“And how did that affect him?”
“He was upset for weeks, and didn’t want to talk to his dad anymore .. but after a while my husband left home and I got fired so money became very scarce. And my son needed money for the bus to school”
“And?”
“And one day my son told me -Ma, you know I wouldn’t ask you if there would be any other way ..but you need to track down dad. He has to drive some workers each day to a construction site on this street, so you should find a cab with tinted windows and follow him, find out where he moved”
“So what did you do?”
“I did what he said .. told the cab driver to follow my husband’s car and went to the outskirts of the city where I discovered he had a new mistress.”
“While still being with your mom?”
“Yes”
“Go on”
“I did confront him, but he told me he was free to do whatever he wanted, and so was I for all he cared. He gave me the money for the son and told me to go away. And I went.”
The pattern of frequent depression episodes continued until recently when one of the docs told her that she should really find herself a worthy man instead of the pondscum she was married to. She took her advice and fell in love with somebody she’s still with at the moment (4 months and counting). She says she’s learning now how to feel happy again.
Posted: hospital
16
October
2006
The last 24 hours were probably cursed by an angry voodoo-skilled patient. That, or the Great Powers That Be were out to get me.
It started yesterday, when my parents asked us to help harvesting the grapes from their wineyard. We accepted and merrily proceeded to part the nectar-holding spheres from their vines. Laughter and chatting was all you could hear over the rows, until, oh faithful readers, I’ve put my hand between two curs’d leaves and reached for a forbidden fruit. The sting! The pain! The cry of sheer horror! A yellowjacketed guardian flew away and I was left there cursing while the stung finger burned like a Texas barbecue and quickly turned to red. It also friggin’doubled its size. I was sent to rest and hold it under cold water. The water turned out to be a bad idea (the pain worsened) but gently blowing air on it while watching the reddened vein-pattern on the back of the finger proved to be effective. Now it only hurts when I touch something cold with it.
Today started with a headache. Mind you, usually headaches got nothin’on me - I sigh, promise myself to get more sleep, dismiss the Nurofen pill graciously and it goes away in an hour or so. Today’s headache was the rabid kind - hours and hours of rubbing the temples, applying water and feeling nauseated. Then again, lots of people around me were complaining of the same symptoms so it was probably some atmospheric front effect . I hope so, because the noggin is still hurting.
Then there was the bathroom door. More precisely, my workplace’s bathroom door. I discovered this morning that it had swollen in the weekend from the humidity and so, you couldn’t close it from the outside. Therefore, when nature called, I locked the door of my room - where the entrance to our bathroom is located - entered the bathroom and just for fun, I slammed it once more. Surprisingly, it worked. Not so surprisingly, it worked so well that now I couldn’t open it. I tried with one hand, two hands, two hands and a leg - still couldn’t open it. Then I realised that I was in the middle of a B-list comedy - the only key to my room was on the table so even if I’d shouted there was no chance anybody could open and help me. And I laughed at how Murphy was proven right again. Fortunately, he’s not infaillible - I focused, invoked the spirit of the Great Leather Couch -you know, the shrink’s totem animal - kicked it once more and the door opened.
Somewhere on a cloud Papillon was probably winking at me.
Posted: hospital, chestii
11
October
2006
Remember my post about the goodie swapping site? Well, what do you know - my first swap is completed, and to make things even more pleasant, it was done with somebody that works almost in the same field as me.
The package contained lots of books that made me drool just by looking at them, a taco kit, pecan nuts, chipotle peanuts, postcards, cat stickers, Hello Kitty stuff (which made Timi drool), Harry Potter jellybeans and .. I’m sure I forgot one or two things. Oh yes. Fish crackers. And a plushie cat. And the most important things - the drawings of her two little ones about their pets. Too bad I didn’t had the same idea.
I loved how this swap turned out - P, many many thanks for all the care you’ve put into preparing it. I hope you and the girls liked what I’ve sent just as much as we enjoyed your gifts.
Posted: chestii
