Elle Vampa

Strange how two weeks can change drinking coffee from a normal everyday activity into a milestone.

It’s been precisely one week since I’ve witnessed my mother in a hospital bed, chained not to a ball but to an IV drip and with a tube dangling from her nose so a bag can feed her properly.

She went from being a little out of breath to being a lot out of breath to nearly keeling over on her way back from the doctor’s office to being checked into cardiology with a heart rate of 140 beats per minute – while resting!

If, like me, you’re always on the lookout for that silver lining people talk about, here it is: the stroke she suffered from a nano-small blood cloth, originating from her heart not beating strong enough, happened while in hospital.

To try and imagine today’s reality if it had happened anywhere else is unbearable.

I look at her, sitting in her wheel chair, talking softly. Today was the first time for coffee, yes, even if it takes her forever to finish her cup.

For a moment, her slumped posture stirs a sadness in me I cannot afford to unveil while sitting in the restaurant of the recovery centre she’s been residing at since this week. Her slow speech, albeit perfectly audible and understandable, musters up a patience I didn’t know I had.

Must be just another miracle.

She looks paper thin, so fragile she could fly away, out through the open window into the sunlight to disappear with the winds.

Inwardly, I heave a sigh. Outwardly, I reach for her coffee cup – now empty – to put it back on the tray.

“No!” She slaps my hand away and throws me her undeniable cheeky grin: “I have to practice!”

I smile back and let her. In return, she lets me push her chair back to her private room.

I hear my dad’s shuffled footsteps behind me as I teasingly push my mother a bit faster. She giggles.

Strange how two weeks can change drinking coffee from a normal everyday activity into a humble moment of happiness.

She’s still here. I get to enjoy her a little longer.

In full or not, I don’t care. This is all we have and I’ll take it.

Love you, mom ❤️