Gratitude Post #8 - My Life

I almost died a few weeks ago. There's nothing like a brush with the grim reaper to push your gratitude meter into uncharted territory.

What I assumed was a bad intestinal flu turned out to be diverticulitis, which led to a GI bleed that very quickly caused me to lose more than half my blood. Had my husband not been home with me, I'd have tried to ride it out. He, on the other hand, called 911, which was the thing to do. By the time I arrived in the ER, I needed a transfusion of four units of blood. That's a lot.

I spent the next four days in the hospital in sub-acute care, hooked up to antibiotics and gradually transitioning from no liquids at all to ice chips, to clear liquids to full liquids. It took two days for the bleeding to stop, and I'm still working on getting my strength back to a hundred percent.

My wonderful husband spent every day there with me. I had to kick him out each night after midnight so he'd save his own strength and get some rest and a shower. My kids came to visit, as well as a couple relatives and one of our close friends. A few others offered, but I declined since I really did need to rest.

After I got home, three of my dear friends either came by the house or sent flowers. Others called with offers of help. I'm so overwhelmed with gratitude for those wonderful friends.

But the other night, as I lay in bed, I started thinking about two of my other friends. Both of these women knew that I'd been in the hospital since they'd Liked or commented on Facebook posts. They also knew about the other, way more devastating event in my life last year -- the death of my father. Yet neither of them bothered to call or send a card then or now.

Maybe I'm being petty here, but I've done things for those two 'friends.' I've made donations to charities they requested when they've lost relatives, sent cards, called in times of need and even cooked meals and sent gifts for their big life events, the births, and graduations of their children. Yet they have done none of those things for me in my times of need. Not a card, a phone call, an offer of help, nothing. Only a line of sympathy on Facebook. Big freaking deal. I know everyone's busy, but seriously!

So maybe it's time to cull the friendship roster in my life. After all, like I said, I have a lot of wonderful, amazing friends, whom I love dearly. Friends who show through their words AND their actions that they care.

Yes, I am infinitely grateful for my life, my family and my friends. My true friends. I now know who those are. There's another huge life lesson, for which I'm also thankful. It's sometimes in the darkest hours that things become the most clear.