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Recovering--a sacred time.

One day a few weeks ago, after returning from a set of seven 12 hour shifts in a hospital away from home, my husband convinced me to go to a concert. The group performing was the Deviant Septet, based out of Brooklyn, NY. They were an odd combination of instruments and they played mostly newly composed music.

The second piece in their program was by Chris Cerrone and was called "Recovering." I expected nothing, perhaps a nap even, but was completely absorbed by the music which wordlessly represented a magical period that I get to observe regularly but rarely remark upon.

Patients come in to the hospital when they are sick, and often getting sicker. They are vulnerable and place themselves in the hands of strangers. Usually they feel terrible. We do things to them to try to make them better. Often we are successful. And then something magical happens. Their faces look brighter. Their vital signs stabilize. Their eyes focus. They make jokes. It's still not over, though. There are setbacks. There is pain. They are weak and their appetites are not vigorous. But a gate has been passed through.

I don't often take the time to appreciate this transition. For me it is often filled with new concerns. What next? How can we all avoid this kind of event in the future? How much more time before this person can leave the hospital?

This piece of music took me back to the times when I was sick and finally getting better, when the world around me began to be relevant again, and sometimes beautiful. It reminded me that there is a thing that happens, this "recovering", and spending a little time noticing it will be a good practice.

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