Happy Birthday to Keith, Mom, and Uncle Wendell!! Hope today is wonderful for all three of you!!

We're all guilty of it. Complaining. We complain about things that annoy us...red lights taking too long, traffic, work, friends, and loads of other daily things that don't go just the way we want them to. But, today I was rudely reminded just how fortunate I am.

We spend a lot of time at the VA hospital lately and this morning, while waiting for Keith's latest prescription I spent some time watching the other Veterans that were coming in for care. Keith is definitely one of the young ones. Most of the Vets are 40+ years older than Keith. Most of them have outlived their spouses so they come to the VA with children, nieces or nephews, or grandchildren. Today, one particular man caught my attention. He was probably in his 80s, given the WWII hat he wore, in a wheelchair, and very obviously confused. The woman with him, his niece, was trying to get him checked in for an appointment. He kept wheeling his chair around the corner and she'd have to run after him, "Uncle Bill! Come back here!" She was quite annoyed. The clerk asked for the man's VA ID card and when she turned to ask her uncle, he was rounding the corner again! "Uncle Bill! I need your VA card" "My what?" "Your VA card! They need to see that you are who you say you are" "Well of course I am!" "Well, they need to see your card, do you have it?" "No, Shelly always keeps up with it". The niece to herself, "Uncle Bill, Shelly's been gone for years..." then aloud to him, "Where is your wallet? Can you give me your wallet?" "Here you go. What do you need it for?" "Your VA card" "I have a VA appointment sometime this week, don't forget to get me there" "Yes, Uncle Bill. We are at the VA now" "We are? Well get me checked in then. The doctor won't see me until I'm checked in" "Yes, that's what I'm trying to do now!" She was growing more and more annoyed. It became quite obvious that this was her first time at the VA. She mentioned to the clerk that someone from a home health company usually brings him to his appointments. About then, Uncle Bill rolled himself around the corner again..."Uncle Bill! Stop rolling around!" A nurse came up and locked the wheelchair for her... "Thanks! Maybe I can get him checked in now" "Is Shelly going to pick me up after I see the doctor?" "No, Uncle Bill...Shelly's gone." "Where did she go?" to herself, "Not again...Just be quiet while I finish getting you checked in" "Checked in for what?" "You're doctor appointment!" "Yeah, I'm supposed to go to the VA for that sometime this week" She sighed, the clerk gave her instructions of where to take Uncle Bill to have some blood work done, then where to wait for the doctor. The niece sighed, thanked the clerk, and turned to Uncle Bill who was trying to unlock the wheelchair, "Let's go to the lab they need to draw blood" She wheeled him off down the hall and the sound of her voice explaining again where they were faded as they rounded the corner. It was really sad. But I'm not sure what was more sad... The fact that Uncle Bill had lost his memory and was unaware of his surroundings, or the fact that his niece was so obviously annoyed by her uncle and his aged body and mind.

It really made me think. There are so many things to be thankful for each day of our lives, but yet we seem to spend more time focusing on the things that annoy us. Next time you start to complain about something that's annoying you, please think about Uncle Bill. Even though his actions were extremely annoying to his niece, and even though he didn't realize it, he was depending on her and very fortunate that she was there to help him, but she was too annoyed to notice it.

In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends. - Martin Luther King Jr.