The nineth of 25 segments, chapters from the 942 page saga When the Jonquils Bloom Again, 3rd Edition, full version available in print and kindle, these are the stories of Sharon and her family, starting in 1847, ending in the present.
Aunt Mindy, Sharon’s best friend, her reason to live, the best thing ever happening to her in her childhood, she loved Aunt Mindy. Aunt Mindy loved her. A registered nurse, Aunt Mindy could have worked in their town. She worked on Sharon, gave her enemas when she was sick with a cold.
Doctors say if you deliver a woman of a baby, you have a patient for life. Having enemas was always part of having a baby. If Aunt Mindy didn’t have Sharon for life before the enemas, the enemas only made their bond closer. Giving an enema is nothing: standing fully clothed pouring water. Having an enema is very personal. The power of an enema is great promoting immune responses or quelling them, depending on the heat; reducing pain by alkalizing the body or acidifying in alkalosis, depending on the pH of the water; hydrating or dehydrating, depending on the salts in the water; and cleansing, removing toxins and waste. Sharon wasn’t thinking about those things. She was bare bottomed trying not to make a mess of herself, squeezing back surges. Having a good enema is about holding on until you can’t hold on, until you’ve taken as much water as you can hold---psychological, not physiological. Succeeding in taking good enemas for her Aunt, Sharon was as pleased with herself. It’s the same feeling she had when she pleased her Mother by making it to the bathroom to go potty for the first time. That’s what’s exciting about enemas. That’s what bonds patients to nurses beyond rational explanation when they give enemas. Sharon bonded with Aunt Mindy for life during those enemas and the months of love that flowed between them.
Aunt Mindy loved her as if she were her only child---and she was. Still, a woman is a woman, the love of a child, another woman’s child is not all a woman needs. Enlisting in the Navy, Aunt Mindy would find a man to love her, and never stopped loving Sharon. The first thing she did when she found a man as to write asking for Sharon to join them in Hawaii.
Little girls, unlike big girls aren’t always rational, don’t see planning ahead---finding a husband then being sent for. Being left behind is being left behind.
Sharon never said good bye, never could, not to Aunt Mindy. This section’s about love so deep, saying good bye isn’t possible---being abandoned, left behind, is as bad as dying---until dying happens.
Each Thursday through Monday, in Amazon’s free Kindle books, we post a segment in sequence of When the Jonquils Bloom Again. Each segment is available on Amazon, as well as the kindle and hard back versions of the book.
Enjoy.