Checkups

It's been a long, long week with lots of meetings and events, little time for blogging.  The highlight of the week was seeing our eye surgery patients arrive in Dra. de Burgos' office for their post-surgery checkups.  I always worry about patients finding the office - I think because it's often hard for me to find places in El Salvador, and because the office is on the 2nd floor of a small building on a very busy street in Santa Tecla.  But no problem for our patients, who either got on the parish bus in San José Villanueva or had the good sense to phone Cecilia, Dra. de Burgos' friendly and capable assistant, for directions.  Everyone got there in good time, and almost all are doing very well.  As usual, a few will need additional laser surgery.

I always enjoy watching the patients connect with each other - there's a cameraderie and cheerfulness that makes me think they are pleased with themselves for having the courage to have surgery and come out with better vision.  The two men in this photo were enjoying telling stories to Elvira Chicas, our volunteer coordinator at San José Villanueva:

One very special note this year: we included Cecilia's grandfather in our surgery list, and he came to the post-op with his daughter, Cecilia's mom, and great-grandson, Cecilia's son David.  Here's all four generations of Cecilia's family:

I'm awestruck by Cecilia: she gets up at 3:30 every morning to get on the bus at 5:30 so she can get to the office by 8:00 - she lives a long way away in Nahuizalco.  Then after the office closes, she reverses the process, getting home by 8 pm to put a quick meal on the table and fall into bed.  Her mom takes care of David and her daughter Camila.  But I can't imagine how she can manage this schedule and be - as she always is - cheerful, helpful, and upbeat.

Four generations

Last November my great-niece Amy gave birth to Addyson Kayanne Skalisky, the first of her generation in my family, and on Saturday we had a family gathering to meet this 4-month-old charmer and take a photo of four generations: in the group photo, Grandma Joanne, Great-great-aunt Kathy (my sister), Amy, Addy, and Great-great-aunt Susan. Shocking though it is to become a great-great-aunt, it sure was fun to meet the newest and to think about all that lies ahead in her life! May she have many joys and many adventures.

We also got to visit with Addy's Aunt Cara (above with Addy) and Uncle Jacob, with Great-Aunt Sally and Great-Uncle Gary and first cousins once removed Corina and Katie... And we had the fun of revisiting family baby songs and games, of catching up with each others' doings, of applauding Corina in her gorgeous prom dress and seeing Katie's drawings, of being family. I'm grateful, always, to belong to a family that loves and enjoys each other. What a blessing, and what a blessing for Miss Addyson.

Celebrating la tercera edad

La tercera edad, the third age, is what they call being a senior citizen here in El Salvador - and come to think of it, it makes a lot more sense and poetry than "senior citizen." Last week we had a fiesta for people in la tercera edad at the Centro Arte para la Paz, complete with a band that knew how to play the old Salvadoran standbys for dancing - though when we got into rock tunes, a little later, could see that these are my contemporaries. We all danced to the Beatles back in the 60s, and we all could keep that beat going. Some segunda edad folk even snuck in to enjoy the dancing with us - Arielle on the left in the photo above is one of Peggy O'Neill's full-time volunteers this year. Great fun - there were prizes for all, including the oldest person there, a man of 99 who I often greet on the corner of my street, and the woman with most children - someone claimed she had 14, though when she stood up she only mentioned 10. Other prizes were raffled, even the two piñatas. We were served coffee and a refrigerio (a snack, the first time I met this word I had a terrible time disentangling it from refrigerator, refrigerador) and had a good time.

I knew some of the folk there by name, others by sight, and many were new to me, but it was fun to be among my contemporaries in la tercera edad.