before and after

This small world story will make sense so stick with me for a bit:

A few weeks before the transplant, as I sat waiting for a yoga class to begin, I recognized a woman in the back of the class. We'd belonged to the same gym, years ago, and I spotted her in the neighborhood every once in awhile, although we never said hi. With time to kill I started chatting, as I do, and discovered she was now a regular at my studio too, although we hadn't crossed paths. Eventually the impending surgery came up, as it so often did, and she mentioned her neighbor was waiting for a new kidney. Small world - how often do you meet someone who knows someone in such a similar situation. I wondered I she could have been talking about my brother, but she lived in a different neighborhood.

The she mentioned he was vegan, that they shared a love of vegan cupcakes.

I asked if his name was xxx.

Yup.

Was his last name xxx?

Yup again.

My brother's office is in her building. She's known him for years. In fact, the week before, I'd helped pickout cupcakes for her at a vegan bakery in NJ we'd road tripped too.

Now it was a serious small world story.

So here's the relevant part: I saw her in class the other day. After telling me how great she thought I seemed (thanks D!, she mentioned how amazing my brother looked. That the grey pallor and dark smudges under his eyes that had been there for so long were gone. That his energy level,compared to what it had been, was remarkable.

It was hard not to cry.

I've notice these things but to hear it from someone else, someone not intimately involved in the whole thing, who had such a clear view of the before and after, was amazing. Gratifying. Thrilling. So much time has passes that my kidney adventure is fadin into the background. The rest of life is coming backup the forefront. It was a gift to be reminded of what a positive difference that kidney is making.