One

Well, you can’t blame (or credit) me for the election results, because I didn’t vote.  This is the first election since I turned 18 in which I didn’t vote.  Calm down.  I had a good reason.  I had every intention of voting, but the day’s events instead landed me in the hospital getting a blood transfusion.

My girlie issues have gotten steadily worse in the last couple months, to the point where I’ve been bleeding heavily for over six weeks straight.  I had lost so much blood I was dizzy, light headed, exhausted.  Just walking to the mailbox required me to lie down afterward.  I’d been seeing my family doctor, and she’d tried a couple medications, which helped, but didn’t stop it.

Finally yesterday at work I had severe abdominal pains, started throwing up, and started bleeding more heavily than ever.  I was sweating and loopy and couldn’t have told you my own address.  My boss drove me to the ER and sat with me most of the day, which was so kind of her.  I’ve only been in this new job for about three months, and she commented at one point, “This is a wonderful way to really get to know you!”  I heart her.

They tested and poked and prodded me.  After the initial evaluation, the ER nurse said to me, “Well, I’ve seen ONE person with lower blood pressure than you.”  Thanks.  That’s super.  I strive to be the best, whatever endeavor I undertake.

At any rate, I finally got a blood transfusion, and I felt so much better, and they sent me home.  I go to see an OBGYN later today for more testing and a new medication that should (for reals) stop the bleeding temporarily while we formulate a more permanent plan.

Several times throughout yesterday, I thought about how being there meant I couldn’t vote.  Last night, once I got home, I tentatively started looking online for election results.  I do not follow the news, ever.  It’s depressing and upsetting, and 99% of the time I can’t do anything about whatever is being reported.  I consider myself an empath, as I genuinely FEEL whatever I see or hear someone else feeling.  Good, bad, or indifferent, I take it all in at a very deep level.  It becomes a part of me.  Therefore, I’m very careful what I expose myself to.  Last night was no exception.  It all stressed me out, and I knew that whatever was done, was done.  I couldn’t change it at that point.

As I crawled into bed and did my spiritual reading, prayer, and meditation, I was hit with this profound realization that somebody else’s blood was coursing through my body.  If you are A+ and you’ve recently given blood, I might have your blood inside me.

I don’t know who you are.  I don’t know your race, or your gender, or your political views.  I don’t know your religious beliefs, whether you have children, or what you do for a living.  But now, we are one, you and me.  Certainly physically, you are forever a part of me.  And I believe that spiritually, the same is true.

Whoever you are, and however you voted, I’m so very grateful that you generously gave your blood in order to heal my body.  On the surface, we may be very different.  We might have opposing reactions about the election results from yesterday’s voting.  But we share the same blood today.  Inside, we are the same.  We are two tiny parts of the bigger whole.

Isn’t that true for ALL of us?