Several years ago, one of my treasured dear friends had an accident which left her with a traumatic brain injury. A TBI is a type of brain injury caused by an external force, such as a blow to the head from a fall. The severity can range from mild to severe. In this case, the head trauma effected the area of the brain that aided in speech. The manifestation of these symptoms – the inability to remember the all the words needed to converse – my friend would speak her sentences and then struggle to remember one or two words which would complete her message. This put my friend in an unsustainable position with her employer.
I am not going to sugar-coat what aging employees experience in the work force, if you know you know. There exists a natural bias that transcends talent, experience and value. This is what happened to my dear friend. After almost 20 years on the job, never taking a sick day and being the recipient of many awards for excellence, the employer let this extraordinary employee go without so much as a cake or well-wishes card thanking her for her years of exemplary service. To help ease that shock, I wrote this short story for her in hopes that it would lessen the punch-in-the-gut of having to walk out the employer’s door that very last time.
If you know of anyone who suffers from a TBI, try to be patient and cheerful with them. Their world has already undergone a tremendous adjustment, what they probably need most is kind and loving support that brings them back to the world they once knew. Thanks for reading.
“In the city of all cities, where tall buildings dominate the skyline, there lived a lovely matron who was the toast the town! From her residence, high above the treetops, she tended to her family and made her lair into the perfect nest for them. Her family consisted of a lovely girl-child and a boisterous husband who kept this little family humming. All things were idyllic in the world of this beautiful matron, so much so the lady became known to all around her as ‘Bella’, for not only did she project an air of grace on the outside, but she was also even more lovely on the inside!
One day, many years into Bella’s utopia, certain upsets occurred causing a swift change to the rhythm of this family-unit. That was the day Bella took matters into her own hands. On that auspicious day, Bella took a walk! She quietly departed out the front door of her home, descended down the corridor and exited the building. Bystanders were clueless as to the destination, but Bella wasn’t – for what she had in mind was to restore the cadence to the lives of her loved ones!
There were about 300 steps that Bella took that opportune day (and every day after that)! 300 steps towards changing the tempo of the cards that fate had dealt to her table. It was to be the first of the 2,886 walks she would take over the next eighteen years! This first walk took her to the door of a shop where the magical world of fashion would welcome her innate style and where Bella would find her calling. This new beginning would not only make her world hum again but would decorate the fashion soul of every patron whom she assisted.
I always imagined Bella walking with purpose. That was the way I regarded her. She was the kind of woman who would always do what was needed, what was beneficial for her family, and do what would bring beauty to her surroundings. In my eyes, she was perfect! She would always scoff at that superlative, but she always embraced it and allowed it to fuel her and thrust her forward.
Think about it, almost three thousand walks would have seen many days where rain, sleet, wind, cold, and swelter would have dominated the day, but never – not even once – did Bella not take the walk, for her purpose was being fulfilled in every one of those 300 steps!
Now, eighteen and a half years have passed, and the walk has become less important because Bella’s purpose has been satisfied. It was hard for her to see or imagine, the walk was her ‘way’ for such a long a time it was inconceivable to think that a full circle had been completed. So, I slowly and gingerly held her hand through the process of ‘letting go’ and beginning anew. And that is what she did! On that magical day, shortly after the vernal equinox and during a season when all new life begins again, Bella took her last walk. This time she walked backed to her home in the tall tower where the warmth of her nest was waiting for her! Her earthy universal purpose having been achieved; it was now the time for Bella to decorate her own soul!”
~ d.j. posner
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