Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary
Dr. Jedidiah is a psychiatrist who loves
traveling, meeting new people, and exploring different cultures. As a single
father who lost phis wife to drug overdose 10 years ago, he has not been his
old perky self for the last decade. During those hard years, he has met
hundreds of, thousands of people from various walks of life around all over the
world. Meeting new people and listening to their stories outside his office
have given him different feelings from the ones through the formal encounter
groups or being truly honest with himself. Here is Dr. Jedidiah’s monologue
that has left him with some food for thoughts in life….or a fodder to justify
his own mistakes in the past.
Episode # 62. My New Neighbor, Beautiful and Precious
I still remember the day when I first met Halona, the lady
living next door to me. When she moved to the house on this street, people in
this neighborhood were ready to welcome this newcomer, because there had not been
a change of any kind in our community for so long. People had been sick of doldrum of uneventful and lackluster days. No one had moved in and out
around here for almost 7 years.
On my way out to work, I saw a U-Haul truck coming onto my
street. Then a young woman came out of the vehicle. She looked tired but gave
me a faint smile when our eyes met. Even before I returned her smile with mine,
she looked the other way and hurried inside the house. Although it’d been just
a few minutes since we met, I knew that this woman was not the kind of person
who would enjoy palavers or vibing with people in her
neighborhood. I hated this old habit of mine that I’d judge or guess someone’s
disposition at first sight, but couldn’t help but think that I got a weird
neighborhood. Her eyes were telling me beyond peradventure that she didn’t
want to socialize with anyone around here.
One Friday afternoon, I was packing up my water bottle
and energy gels for a hiking with friends. While lacing up my brand new trail
shoes, which was boosting my mood, I heard a couple knocks on the door. There
was this newcomer woman who moved right next door. “Hi, we’ve met, right? I made
some Sticky Buns. Have you tried it before? Hope you like it. ……..Oh, my
name is Halona, …..Halona Deere. You’re Dr. Jedidiah, right? I heard
from the previous owner of my house that you’ve been here in this community for
a quite a while.” It was a nice surprise to see her again, but actually a bit
annoying at the same time to have a visitor when I was about to head out wearing
a new pair of shoes. Just like I welcome my patients to the office, I hided my
somewhat uncomfortable feelings and asked her to come inside. It took her more
than three months to come to my place and tell me about her.
Halona was not living alone. She was taking care of her baby
boy who was born with a congenital malformation. It seemed to me
that she was feeling lucky to live away from her abusive husband and end up here
with the help of her close friend from the same Native American reservation,
who got out of that intoxicating place and became a medical doctor later on. Halona
asked me if I could help her stop drinking alcohol. She had been physically abused
and assaulted by her chronically diabetic and alcoholic husband for many years
back in the reservation. As I had known and learned, Halona's life was miserable and
unimaginably incorrigible in the Native American Reservation. Halona said “I
have never felt truly welcomed or treated with equality anywhere inside or
outside of the reservation. I hated my husband's pathetic dependence on alcohol, I had gradually come to turn to the same awful thing. I even started to hide all my beer bottles from my evil self in the house. My life was just like a broken steering wheel that uncontrollably
judders in my hands. I wonder if I could find myself owning my life here.”
My hiking arrangement with friends that Friday had to be
canceled and led to a long conversation with Halona, enjoying her Cherokee
traditional Sticky Buns. I wanted my other neighbors to have a chance to taste
this mouthwatering pie as well. Now, my favorite café “Rise and Shine” can’t imagine
a day without Halona’s Sticky Buns. They hired this woman who made a dash for a
big change in her life to bring the spirit and energy to the taste of their sweet
treats. Now the entire neighborhood began to taste the change they had yearned
for quite a long time.
Halona said her father gave her the most beautiful and
precious name “Halona Deere”, meaning “beautiful and precious” in Cherokee
tribal language. Finally, her name started to do justice to her beautiful and
precious life.
(*Picture Source: https://www.123rf.com/photo_80162648_stock-illustration-illustration-of-a-native-american-mom-carrying-her-child-using-a-sling-called-papoose.html)
Expressions
1. palaver: idle talk/ chitchat
2. to vibe with someone: to be in harmony with someone; to get along with someone
3. beyond peradventure: without doubt/ certainly
4. Sticky Buns: the Cherokee Native Americans’ traditional dessert using brown sugar and pecans
5. Halona: meaning “happy fortune” in Native American language
6. a congenital malformation: a physical defect present in a baby at birth that can involve many different parts of the body
7. Native American Reservation: The Indian reservation system was created to keep Native Americans off of lands that European Americans wished to settle. The reservation system allowed indigenous people to govern themselves and to maintain some of their cultural and social traditions.
8. to judder: (especially of something mechanical) shake and vibrate rapidly and with force
9. to
yearn for something: have an intense feeling of longing for
something, typically something that one has lost or been separated from
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