TheBanyanTree: Brian

[Roger Pye]

Brian was an accountant and a good one, and he loved his wife Judy who 
was, shall we say, a little scatty as well as being an artist and a 
gardener and a piano player. They had been married for over twenty years 
and produced a son and a daughter and done most of the things that happy 
couples do when on a particular day Brian contracted a terminal illness 
and within weeks had departed.

I met Judy 15 years later when a friend of hers referred her to me for 
help. I found her to be a very anxious person, so anxious that she did 
not walk anywhere but scurried like the White Rabbit in Alice in 
Wonderland. She was also overweight and short of breath but she still 
gardened, painted and played the piano.

As most people know I treat people in their own homes, mainly because 
the energies there are often a strong factor in the person's condition. 
I discovered during the first visit that Judy was uncomfortable lying on 
a treatment table so from then on we sat cater-corner at her kitchen 
table. No problems. By the third treatment her anxiety was lessening and 
the scurrying decreasing. Partway through the treatment she said "Brian 
will be pleased, he was always on at me to slow down!"

I noted the present tense and said, cautiously, "He's still here?"

"Oh yes, over there by the ironing board! Oh, I couldn't get by without 
him being here. He likes you, by the way, thinks you're very good for me."

So Brian became a regular part of my visits. About two months later 
towards the end of our meetings when I walked in the door, Judy said 
"You'll never guess what I did this morning, you'll be very pleased, I 
know."

There was a tenseness in the atmosphere I hadn't felt before and she was 
very excited. Half-afraid of what she would say, I asked what she had done.

"I went over to the Southern Cross Club at Woden and signed up for a get 
fit course. It's only $10 a week and I can afford that! The instructor 
sat down with me and worked out a programme. What do you think about that?"

I looked at her as if seeing her for the first time - overweight still, 
breathless, 63 years of age, chest heaving with the exertion of getting 
the story out - then across at the ironing board and I knew where the 
tension came from.

"Er, did you speak to your doctor first?"

"Of course not, I know what he would say!"

"And Brian, what about him?"

"He thinks I'm crazy! You don't, Roger, do you?"

"It bears thinking about," I said, "I think you should see your doctor 
before you begin the course. Just to be on the safe side."

"Oh, I began already, this morning!"

That was two years ago and I've only run across her once or twice since 
then, the last time some months ago. But I fancy she did see her doctor 
and he vetoed the idea - and Brian too - because she was just the same 
as I remembered - dumpy, smiling, happy, still scurrying a little for 
which I was very thankful.

roger



Theta Brentnall wrote:
> I would argue that she isn't gone, not completely.  She can still visit you
> and have tea in your dreams and who knows, she may have just made that dream
> happen so she could have tea with you and let you know that the adventure
> continues.
> 
> hugs
> 
> Theta
> 
> On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 11:35 AM, Monique Colver <monique.colver at gmail.com>wrote:
> 
>>
>> And so when the alarm went off I woke up reluctantly, wanting to stay with
>> my Mom, knowing that when I did wake up she'd be gone, and has been gone
>> since November. But I dragged myself awake, knowing that Mom wouldn't want
>> me to stay when I had so much of life to get through, and there's so little
>> time to waste.
>>
>>
> 
>