Dear Editor: Normality is an ever-changing reality. As we go through life, our perspective of what is normal changes and evolves. Everyone’s family, work, and religious backgrounds are not the same. It’s all from a different view depending on the person.
For me, growing up in the Philippines is all I remember and knew. Being in an abusive marriage to an alcoholic was the norm. I saw it every day. Then I left the marriage, and my normal drastically shifted.
At fifty, I had a massive stroke. What I had seen as my day-to-day life was obliterated. In the beginning, a hospital bed and all that went with it were not me. But after a time, it was normal. Learning to walk day by day changed my perspective. Now after ten years, walking with a cane and brace is my normal, as well as taking 17 medications a day.
Normality shifts, changes, and sometimes explodes. We are washed in a flowing river of perspective and we learn adjustment throughout our lives.
– Lisa Lape, Tempe Friends Meeting (IMYM)