In Sickness and In Health (Arzu)

Being sick, or I should say ill, is always a humbling experience. Recently, I was quite humbled. We all loaded up and went on a little vacation for the week. I was super excited because I had heard so much about this particular region of the world and was ready to explore it. We had a great first day… however, the second day made a huge turn for the worse. Well, it was worse in some ways… there are a few bright spots. I could tell that Zeynep was not doing so well when we began the day. I was just asking for wisdom on how to be a good friend to her. I had no idea how much of it I would need before the day was over. By lunch time we decided to come back to the pension because Zeynip was not feeling good at all and I was starting to feel funny myself. I just had a sense that it I shouldn’t leave her unless she needed something. So when she took a nap, I took one myself. When she needed sprite, Gatorade, or medicine I went and got it. As the night progressed she got worse and worse. About the time that she started to get a little bit better I got really bad myself.

Humbling experience… here we go! So I have not ever been so ill with food poisioning in my life. Everything I drank came out immediately. Any pride, sense of dignity, anything at all that I had left was gone. It was gone for the whole week. First of all, we were all sharing a room… no privacy. Secondly, we were sharing a bathroom …. Well, you can figure that out. It was horrible. The whole week Zeynep and I did not do too much except for rest. It was not the ideal vacation that’s for sure.

I will say that some pretty great things came out of the pretty horrible situation. My roommates saw a new side of me. I didn’t have much energy to do or say anything and they still loved me a lot. I really think when someone is ill and you stick with them through that it can bring you to a new level of friendship. I’m pretty sure that is what happened that week. They still like me even though they saw me at my worse. I mean, I looked horrible, I felt horrible, I probably smelled horrible, I was not always the most pleasant person to be around… and they still loved me. Gizem cleaned the bathroom and every time I needed anything I could always count on her to get it for me. Zeynep and I were still able to play and laugh even though things were pretty rough. That’s a special friend. It was sweet to grow in this way with them. Even though I was hoping for a vacation, I think that sweeter things came from it in the end. However, next time I go on vacation I am hoping and praying for a vacation!