Author: Linda Wright

Linda Wright, author of "My Turn: When Caregiving Roles Reverse," now lives in Florida. She has served on the boards of organizations serving people with rare, genetic bleeding disorders like hers. As a writer, she has contributed to several anthologies and is a member of the Tallahassee Writers Association. Linda is married to the Reverend Ms. Robin Gray.

Reflections on Time

~ Linda Wright

Time seems to move past quickly now that I have lived through so many years. When I was five, a year was a fifth of my life. Now a year is such a tiny slice of my life span it disappears before I realize where the time went. Anticipation was everything when I was younger. Winter crept into spring, then meandered into summer, and finally ambled into autumn. How I dreaded the thought of going back into a stuffy classroom. How I counted the days until the next school break. It felt like eons before my birthday. Ages passed until I was old enough to drive a car. Waiting is still hard for me but things I wish to happen occur before I’ve had much time to feel the delay of gratification or the clutch of anxiety.

Day 22 (of 31 days of free writing)

Reflections on Blogging

~ Linda Wright

I seem to have attracted a few followers every day since I started this thirty-one days of free writing challenge. Each day I glance at the names of the other bloggers out there who have clicked like on what I posted yesterday. Then I puzzle over what they write. It seems to me that most are picking up on the key words I have added to signify my topic. When I used food as a tag, my piece was noticed by people who write exclusively about recipes. Most of the people who say they “like” my post have only done so once. I see no evidence that I have a true following with the exception of a few personal friends. What I notice is that many of the people who claim to be following my blog in fact have hundreds, if not thousands of followers themselves. This make sense if they are going around and liking posts rather willy-nilly. Maybe it’s like having friends on Facebook and the more you have the better you feel about yourself. Today, day twenty-one, I actually liked someone’s blog back. Call me a snob if you want but I’m just not that easily swayed by popularity clicks.

Day 21 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Connection Between Food and Religion

~ Linda Wright

Sometimes food is deeply connected with religion. Like religion it can be a very sensitive topic. People get energized to proselytize and usually that leaves me feeling cornered and defensive. It all started for me when my first grade teacher told the public school class that today we should not eat meat. She said it was a holy day and if our mother served us meat we should refuse to eat it. I was horrified and said so. If my mother cooked me dinner I was raised to be appreciative. But disagreeing with the teacher turned into an inquiry about what church I went to, which led to me running home in tears because under pressure I could not remember what I had been taught to believe. Lately I’ve had several conversations with people at church about ethical eating. These discussions generally turn into lectures. Their point is that it is unethical to eat meat and dairy products because of the methane gas cattle expel. Also pork, poultry and fish as to be avoided as much as possible. I share their enthusiasm for trying to protect the planet we all inhabit. But do they really mean I am committing a sin if I have milk on my morning cereal?

Day 20 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Mystery of My Body Unraveled

~ Linda Wright

You would think that after all these years I would have a better understanding of my body. My excuse is that my body has changed a lot over time, most especially in the past two years. At times I have been enamored of my body’s ability to adapt given the demands that have been placed on it. Yet there has always been some mystery that eludes me. I have a sense that despite my search for understanding neither doctors or the books I have read have fully enlightened me. I have peered at CAT scan results and MRI images as doctors pointed and said, “See this, right here…” I nod as if I understand, when in fact it all looks like a confusing mess to me.

This week I am filling out the forms to donate my body to a medical university after I die. I have wanted to do this for a long time but it has only been in the past few years that I qualified. I wish I could be a ghost on the ceiling to look inside and see what the medical students observe. I imagine that I will be a very interesting corpse.

Day 19 (of 31 days of free writing)

The Importance of Apology in Medicine

~ Linda Wright

In my lifetime I have needed medical treatment on a much more frequent basis than most people. Several friends have suggested to me that if I write a second book it should be about all the times doctors have said or done something that was hurtful, thoughtless, or inconsiderate. It seems that most of my friends have had at least one or two experiences with doctors that left them feeling angry or ashamed.  It should not be surprising, after all doctors are humans. What is surprising to me is that the doctors I trusted to get things right, never apologized when they got things wrong. Instead, even the most compassionate and skilled physicians default seems to be to blame the patient when the result is not successful. “You didn’t contact me early enough,” or “I don’t believe it is anything to be concerned about,” are the most frequent excuses I have heard. The fact is that these occasions are etched more vividly in my memory than the physical injury or pain I suffered at the time. Recently I learned that the latest data shows that if a doctor admits to making a mistake, even if it caused the patient some additional harm, there is a reduction on medical malpractice suits. That makes sense to me. Healing isn’t just about medicinal science it is built upon trust and the doctor/patient relationship.

Day 18 (of 31 days of free writing)