It's another unusual piece. I wrote this for Nicole back in Christmas 2010. She wrote me a piece of a novel that she's now self-published. I hope seeing this piece again does for her what it did for me: it reminds us just how much we've changed our lives for the better in the past two or so years.
Sure, there have been some bad downs during that time. We both buried people we didn't want to lose, but we also met new, wonderful people that make every day of our lives better than the day before.
On December 25, 1986 a new life joined this world as another one left it. Unfortunately for this new life, the old life was much more precious to Adam. The natives named the missionary's daughter Chiwa, meaning death.
On December 25, 1987 Chiwa celebrated her first birthday by being ripped from her father's arms moments before he smothered her. For to him, she was to blame for all the pain, sorrow, madness, and death of the year before.
On December 25, 1988 Chiwa was finally cleared to enter the United States. She spent the day crying in fear on an overcrowded plane next to an uncaring social worker.
On December 25, 1989 Chiwa finally spoke her first words to her foster mother. She yelled out "I hate God!" during the prayer for the formal dinner. This earned her a heavy spanking and no dinner.
On December 25, 1990 Chiwa spent the day trapped in a playpen with only a bowl of cheerios. Her foster mother did not want a repeat of the year before.
On December 25, 1991 Chiwa was forced to play the part of the camel during the nativity scene at the local church. Only fear of a good belting from her foster father kept her silent.
On December 25, 1992 Chiwa's solitary confinement during the formal dinner was interrupted by a surprise visit by a social worker. To Chiwa's surprise she soon found herself on her way to a new foster family. She hadn't thought anyone would care.
On December 25, 1993 Chiwa spent the day being ignored by the other children and overly smothered by her foster parents. She finally ran outside and hid in the shed just so she could get some peace and quiet.
On December 25, 1994 Chiwa's annual torture was interrupted by a visit from her father. During a supervised visit at a local Waffle House he lost it again. Before the social worker could stop him he had blackened Chiwa's eye and broken her jawbone.
On December 25, 1995 Chiwa discovered the glare. By looking over her brand new, but still used, glasses in a certain way she could make herself highly unapproachable. This suited her just fine – it kept the bullies away.
On December 25, 1996 Chiwa discovered the magic of the written word after her foster parents left her alone to go visit their family. Out of pure boredom she opened up a hated book and discovered a world ruled by Jane Austen, Mark Twain, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Charles Dickens.
On December 25, 1997 Chiwa received news that her grandfather had died. She spent all day wondering why she had never known she had a grandfather and why he had never bothered to see her.
On December 25, 1998 Chiwa made the most important decision of her life. She decided that she wanted to be a doctor after she spent all day in the emergency room waiting to get stitches. One of other children had sliced the back of her calf up with a kitchen knife after she glared at him for calling her a name.
On December 25, 1999 Chiwa experienced the most normal birthday of her life. Her new foster family was Jewish and so threw her a lavish party on her birthday and gave her several gifts. For the first time in her life she felt truly cared for.
On December 25, 2000 Chiwa had her first ever sleepover with some of the girls from her foster family's synagogue. When everyone went home she cried tears of happiness for the first time.
On December 25, 2001 Chiwa found herself to be just another faceless foster child at another faceless foster home again. Her previous family had become unable to financially afford a foster child. Chiwa spent the day babysitting while the adults indulged in Christmas Spirits.
On December 25, 2002 Chiwa spent the day babysitting again. The only bright spot in her day was the news that her father had died in prison. She didn't feel guilty for being grateful he was gone. All he had ever brought her was pain and suffering.
On December 25, 2003 Chiwa found herself in yet another faceless foster home. She spent the day avoiding her foster father and the other male relatives.
On December 25, 2004 Chiwa felt as if nothing more could ruin her life. She had received news that she had obtained a full scholarship to the University of Florida.
On December 25, 2005 Chiwa sat in her empty dorm room and wrote a letter to her dead mother about her time at the University. An hour after finishing it she grew angry and threw it out the window.
On December 25, 2006 Chiwa spent the day volunteering down at a local soup kitchen. As she watched people treasure each bite of food she realized how much worse off she could be.
On December 25, 2007 Chiwa waited tables at the restaurant to bring in just a little bit more money. She needed new shoes before her old ones fell apart.
On December 25, 2008 Chiwa treated herself to a nice meal as she reread her acceptance letter to the University of Florida Medical School for the hundredth time.
On December 25, 2009 Chiwa spent the entire day studying. She almost hadn't passed the Fall semester, she couldn't let that happen again.
On December 25, 2010 Chiwa worked a double shift at the restaurant, she had been so busy studying she had almost missed the rent on her apartment.
On December 25, 2011 Chiwa learned she would be doing her residency at Shands Hospital here in Gainesville. If she had believed in God she would have prayed her thanks at not having to find the money to fund a move.
On December 25, 2012 Chiwa learned that her only remaining relative, a great-aunt, had passed away and left her a few thousand dollars. It was more money then she had ever seen at one time.
On December 25, 2013 Chiwa bought herself her first personal computer. It wasn't much, but it was hers.
On December 25, 2014 Chiwa fell into bed and slept all day. She had just finished working thirty-six hours straight at a hospital. She was working on her residency.
On December 25, 2015 Chiwa found herself filling out paperwork all day.
On December 25, 2016 Chiwa learned that as long as she didn't screw up in the next few months she would be graduating with her doctorate. She almost found herself thanking God that day, almost.
On December 25, 2017 Chiwa left Florida behind and took a position at Blount Memorial Hospital in Maryville, Tennessee – about as different from Florida geographically as she could get.
On December 25, 2018 Chiwa saved a man's life.
It was just another cold December day to Chiwa. The twenty-fifth was no different from any other day in her book. She found it to be a rather silly day actually. Everyone hustling and bustling around, trying to buy stupid gifts for people that didn't want those gifts anyway – a waste of time and money if ever there was one.
Because of this she had volunteered to work that day at the hospital. It made her look good because everyone else was trying to get it off to spend with their families. This suited Chiwa just fine.
She was on her way home from the hospital at about ten at night when a life changing event occurred for Chiwa.
The road was pitch black, the only light around coming from her headlights. Rock music poured from the car radio. It was about as far from Christmas music as Chiwa could get. The farther she drove down the little winding mountain roads the happier she felt, until a small smile finally appeared on her face.
December 25th was almost over, a beautiful snow covered the ground outside her car, she was warm, and she had done another good job at work that day. Everything was so different from how it had been when she was a foster child in Florida.
Chiwa's smile dimmed a little when she saw headlights approaching from around a dark curve. Just like some idiot driver to destroy her perfect aloneness.
It all happened so fast that Chiwa could never remember the details correctly. Just as the other car rounded the turn a deer leaped out of the woods. The other car hit it's breaks, Chiwa could hear the tires squeal, but it was too late. The car hit the deer, hard. The other car swerved, the driver trying to regain control. Chiwa hit her own breaks, trying to make sure she didn't join the accident about to happen.
Everything came to a sudden standstill when the deer jumped off the other car and back into the woods, just seconds before the other car went nose first into an icy stream along the road.
Chiwa's training took over instantly. She grabbed her cell phone as she jumped out of her car. She dialed 911 even as she was digging her first aid kit out of the trunk. Before she could even start heading towards the crashed car though she heard her phone beep and show that she had no service here.
"Dang it!" she swore as she carefully scrambled down the bank and into the icy river. She wrenched open the car door to find the driver slumped over the seat. As she carefully pulled him into a sitting position she noticed a major problem. The deer's horn had gone through the windshield and pierced a small hole in one of his lungs.
Cursing, she undid his seatbelt and pulled off his clothes so she could get to the hole. Grabbing things from her first aid kit she gave him a bandage good enough to hold him until they got to the hospital.
By now her feet were frozen solid in the icy river, despite the thick leather boots she was wearing. Chiwa weighed her options before deciding that without cell phone reception the only way to get him to the hospital would be to drag him back to her car.
As carefully as possible she dragged him to her car. As she was straining to get him up the bank and onto the road she found herself grateful for the isolation that left her with nothing to do but work out during her free time. If she wasn't in such good shape she would be having serious issues right now.
Once he was situated as comfortably as possible in her passenger seat Chiwa jumped back in her still running car, did a quick u-turn, and headed right back to the hospital.
Hours later she was finally admitted to his room. Besides his lung being pierced he had suffered a minor concussion and several cracked ribs. He had hit the steering wheel rather hard when his airbags failed to deploy.
Now that the adrenaline was no longer pumping through her system Chiwa found herself able to actually look at the man she had saved. He was a rather average looking man; he had light brown hair and had the look of someone who worked out often. His chart said his name was Evan Richards. A rather common name when compared with hers, Chiwa Nadeau.
As she stared down at his sleeping face she found herself wondering if his family had been called, if he even had family to call. Was he like her? With no one in the world but himself? Or did he have a large family that cared for each other? Had he been on the road heading home after spending all day with them? Was he married? Did he have a child?
The thought of him having a wife and child bothered her for some reason. Logically, it shouldn't, she didn't even know the man. And yet…
For some unknown reason she found herself holding her breath as he shifted in his sleep and his eyelashes fluttered. Was he waking up?
His eyes opened to reveal grey orbs flecked with green. His eyes circled the room for a moment before coming to rest on her. As their eyes met Chiwa felt something for the first time – a true connection with another human being.
On December 25, 2019 Chiwa found herself given a set of truly unforgettable gifts – a delicate white gold ring with a diamond, a marriage proposal, and a promise of a future filled with life and love.
On December 25, 2020 Chiwa found herself joining the largest and most loving family she had ever encountered as she walked down the aisle to her fiancée waiting in his full service dress, his silver captain's bars glimmering in the candlelight in the small Richards Family Chapel.
On December 25, 2021 Chiwa brought a new life into the world as her wonderful husband held her hand. That day the two of them made a promise – To always put their new daughter's life ahead of their own.
No comments:
Post a Comment