A Bird, A Baby And A Nun

A bird sitting on a branch never is afraid of the branch breaking; because her trust is not on the branch but on its own wings. Always believe in yourself. This is a fine saying.

When we go to do something new, it is normal to be a bit apprehensive. The more we think about it, the more nervous we may become. I have found that most of the time if you dread something, when it happens, it is usually not as bad as you thought it would be and sometimes it turns out to be just fine.

When I was a kid, we were using a dentist in the neighborhood, you just had to walk a few blocks and you were there. Then he transferred his office to a different area and you had to take a bus to get there or you could walk if you wanted to save the bus fare. I remember walking the eight or ten blocks and as I walked by some businesses or homes, I became petrified as to something happening to me on the way there. When I went home, I took the bus.  We use to walk to the movie theatres and when we went to one called Walbrook Movies, we had to walk past a dreary looking old gray building and we all use to makeup stories as to what was going on there. We were told it was a convent and we use to think the nuns would run out and grab us Jewish girls to become members of their religion.

As we would skip by real fast so as not to be ‘kidnapped’, we would secretly hope that one day a nun would come out and say Hi to us. That happened one Saturday afternoon as my girlfriend and I skipped by. A friendly looking elderly lady all dressed in the nun’s outfit which was used in those days and she said  “Hi young ladies how are you?” We were stunned and we hastily answered hi back and we walked even faster. I was always sorry that we had not the nerve to ask her how she was because this was the first contact we ever had with one of the Catholic religion.

Many years later I was on an elevator with a nun when I was going up to the third floor of the dance studio where we took our ballroom lessons. It was an old building and the studio was on the third floor. The olden elevator only held four people, that was what the sign said and you had to be very slim or else the elevator only held two people. She told me she was going to the second floor but she would ride with me to the third floor because she had never seen what a dance studio looked like. I was happy to have her do that because I did not like elevator riding alone and I often tried to go in one where there were lots of people; so someone would always be with me if I went to the top floor. Though this is not always good; my husband was pickpocketed by two young men on a wintery Monday several years ago and it happened because he was on the elevator with them and they conspired to pick his back pocket, while the other one distracted him because he said his hand was stuck in the door opening.

The door opened up and she and I said goodbye as she looked at the hardwood floor, the many trophies on the shelves that students had won and a couple taking a lesson. She smiled and pushed the button to go down. I often wondered what she thought when she saw a studio for the first time.

Many times we visualize something that is going to happen to us way long before the actual event will take place. If it is a good happening, then we are anticipating it with great excitement and adoration. If it is something like a medical event, we probably dread it long before it even arrives.

When I was pregnant for the first time, we in those days were very much unprepared. We did not do natural childbirth then, we were put to sleep and when you awoke, you were informed on the sex of the child and then you saw the baby and the delight and happiness were present. When I arrived at the hospital, the doctor, not my doctor had not arrived yet. Instead there was a young intern or resident and he started to examine me and question me. He had a very thick accent and I truly could not understand him and I was in labor and in pain. Finally after trying to answer him and I was not giving the correct answers due to my not comprehending what he was asking; I finally said sharply “get me someone who speaks English.” It did not deter him and he kept on.Finally my doctor arrived and he took over which was a great relief to me because I was scared and I did not know what to expect. Everything turned out fine, but the experience was as bad as I had anticipated. Now with the second child, four years later, I was more informed, more attuned to the situation and when I was told, it was too early and they were dismissing me, I said “I am not going home, this baby is coming soon.”  This he did and I was lucky the doctor there was speaking English and listened to me. I lay there on the bed while they all took their lunch hour or half hour and again, I was not paid too much attention to. Four hours later, he arrived or as they said the other day in London, “the princess was delivered of her baby, a boy.” They worded it differently than we do here in this country, the outcome is the same. I am sure she had no accent speaking doctors attending her other than the accents they have being British.

The moral of this story is to try not to be too apprehensive or scared of things you are not familiar with. There is always Google where you can look up anything that pops in your head. Google will answer practically any question you have about anything. The word Google has become a word like “I will Google it.”

If something bothers you about anything like a procedure medically needed, if the doctor does not answer your questions or needs, find the answers yourself as best as you can and if you cannot, then, find a book that can explain it to you or just call the medical office and ask everything you need to know.

An informed person is so much better than being unaware or lacking in knowledge.

As the bird sitting on the branch is never afraid of the branch breaking; trust yourself by believing in your instincts about things and if that does not work, become more educated on the subject. Just as the nun wanted to see what a dance studio looked like, even though she never had the need to use it, sometimes it is just plain old nice to know about things, even if you do not ever participate in it.

Love your age, love yourself and most of all be aware of worldly events happening and this makes you a knowledgeable student of life, your life.