juneseventh. |
"The pleasures of conversation and the contemplation of beautiful objects." |
My roommate has epilepsy. The day I first met with her at Starbucks we sat down together and she told me that her condition was fully controlled with medication. She said she hadn’t had an episode in three years, but she wasn’t being honest with me then.
Just last December she had had a seizure, and last Monday night she has another one. She has no recollection of either - the only evidence of the episode being her chewed up tongue and blood all over the sheets. She said she was lucky not to have seriously hurt herself.
The condo unit we share only has one parking space assigned to it. It’s a convenient spot that’s right next to the elevator which us directly up to our front door on the fourth floor. Her class schedule and mine are complementary, where I’m away early in the morning and for most of the afternoon and she’s gone in the afternoon until around 9 at night.
Since both of us drive, I’ve been parking my car between the yellow lines marked “VISITOR” each afternoon because at night the spaces all fill up. It’s much more likely you’ll find an open one the earlier it is and then wouldn’t need to venture out onto the street to park. Plus the surrounding neighborhood is just plain unsafe for a girl walking across the parking lot in the darkness after sunset.
But my roommate pulled me aside yesterday to update me on her situation. She confessed to the seizure that took place last week and said she came clean to her parents, whom she had been lying to by omission. Later this month she has an appointment with her neurologist, whom she also must inform, and whom will likely revoke her driver’s license permanently, as required by law.
She told me she would be moving her car permanently to a visitor’s space since she probably won’t be driving anymore.
Tonight I went downstairs to check the mail, and when I saw the empty space where her car should have been I started to cry.
The elderly and wise always point out the importance of good health, but we who are generally youthful and vivacious rarely pause take their words to heart.
The human fallacy of not appreciating what you have until it’s gone holds true in a myriad of ways we should try to re-evaluate often. The things we take for granted every day deserve our attention. Take care of yourselves. Pray. Be thankful. Live humbly.
