It’s sad to see the old house go. Change always involves
letting go of the past, and there’s always an element
I was plagued by recurring bouts of tonsillitis when I was a
kid. It was typical for me to come down with it a couple of times a year or
more. And so we would go, and sit, and wait. The waiting was part of the
torture. As much as I enjoyed that sun-porch full of weird and wonderful
strangers coming and sitting and standing and going, beneath it all was the foreboding
realization that I was there to see the doctor. Finally to have my name called…
the strange looking implements hanging here or laying there around the office provoking
images of unimaginable horrors … the tongue depressor … that cold stethoscope
roaming around my hot little chest… hoping against hope that a prescription for
penicillin would be in order… that faint smile and that slow withering voice
... “I think I’m going to have to give
you a needle” !!!
Did I really hear it?! Was this really happening to me?! The
mere thought of the invasion of that long pointy object into my tender little
body was more than I could stand. Could anything possibly be worse?!
I smile today as I write those words. A catastrophe of life
shaking proportions then. Today, a mere prick of the skin. Yeah, it’s sad to
see the old house go, but how big a deal is it when we consider what God has
for us moving forward?
When I think of all the trips we made as a family to dr. johnson and the trips to both houses the old one we just demolished and the one next dooe many memories come back to me. I always wondered how he could remember all keith's and my kids names and ages because he had so many patients. but.. when we bought the old house some of the records were still there and ther we were all our birthdays full names and some small facts about each of us. I still remember the article that was written about him when he was one of the last docs to make house calls in canada. I bet we could write a book about all the things he said and did over the course of his practise and like you I can still see his smile, hear his laugh and see the compassion and caring in his eyes. things do change and time has a way of moving on in spite of all we do to delay it. Ill miss the old house but am excited to see what we will do with the space. His love of medicine was primarily dedicated to children so maybe that will give us some ideas
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