"i'll call you"...

"i'll call you"...

how many times have we said that to simply punctuate a conversation, and not truly meant it. and alternately, how many times have we said that to someone we care about and just not gotten around to doing it.

"i'm so busy", "i didn't know when was a good time", "you never pick up", "this damn time change!"...

[blah, blah, blah...]

platitudes; cliches, when spoken aloud, hang in the air like a morning fog, their substance evaporated by mid-morning...

"be impeccable with your word"...

one of "The Four Agreements"; the impossibly trendy, and arguably powerful text by Miguel Ruiz, introduced to middle america by ms. o back in 2000...

"don't take anything personally".
"don't make assumptions".
"always do your best".

i personally prefer the layman's version of #2...

"expectation and disappointment will always go hand in hand like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich".

ah. well, all cynicism aside, last thursday morning, my only thoughts lasered in on whether or not i would hit traffic at the 101 merge into the 405. i thought nothing of self-improvement as i headed down to my therapist.

[yes, i see the irony...]

and then my cell rang.

glancing down, the screen lit up "restricted", and i hesitated.

now with two references to queen o, i suppose i must concede to bowing down, from time to time, at the winfrey shrine. but, c'mon, who can't get behind the "no phone zone" pledge?

but my better half has been called far, far away by the pipes, and contact is fleeting and infrequent.

so, i flipped open my archaic, 5 year-old cell, and pressed speaker.

well. you could have knocked me over with a feather.

two weeks earlier, i had been at one of my tri-weekly visits to dr. dauer's. it was a day packed with tests, including my first mammogram and an ultrasound of the area of my recently ruptured cyst. serendipitously, kevin was free and able to play both the role of chauffeur and uberhusband.

as i waited for blood work, the office manager, eva, walked by. introductions and niceties ensued and i confided my anxiety over kevin's impending trip to scotland. and with what i thought was rote, polite etiquette, eva promised to call and check in on me. surely aware of the painful reasons for my recent hospital stay, i was touched, albeit mighty skeptical.

c'mon.

how many times have halfhearted , non-committal statements been thrown at acquaintances, with never a true intention of following up...?

next.

so, that thursday morning, when eva's voice technologically filled my car, my heart tripped in double time.

for it wasn't my family, it wasn't kevin's family, nor was it even the closest of friends who reached out on that very first day i was without spouse...it was basically a stranger. a being brought into my life simply because of my illness.

there is no judgment here. since that morning, i have been inordinately blessed by caring friends and family members.

but, eva's call. that one beautiful gesture left me speechless.

so, allow me just one more platitude, cliche or otherwise tired refrain...

there's always an exception to every rule.

thank you, eva, for smashing this one to bits.