A couple of years ago there was a commercial of an old couple holding hands and walking in a park. A younger couple was also walking in the same park and holding hands. The younger couple had to stop holding hands for a few seconds in order to walk past the slower moving older couple. The younger couple rejoined hands after they passed the older couple and the woman of the younger couple looked back at the older couple and smiled. The older couple smiled in return, as if almost saying, “Love is worth all the problems that sometimes accompany it. Love each other and care for each other; we did and we couldn’t be happier.” Just by itself, old people holding hands should make anybody feel all warm and tingly inside. Well, last night, I kind of experienced something similar with my host family here in Costa Rica.
Our host mother, Gleys, has been getting some blood tests done recently because she’s been fainting and not feeling very good the past few weeks. She explained to me Monday night, after her and Juan Carlos, her husband, returned from the doctor’s office, that her red blood cell count is low. A normal person’s red blood cell count, according to the paper she showed me, should be between 12.5 and 14.5. Hers, however, is at 6.3. It was at 7.8 in December. Needless to say, her red blood cell count is dropping and it shouldn’t be. They went to the hospital yesterday so she could get a blood transfusion or donation or whatever. What I’m trying to say is that they needed to inject her with more blood in order to up her red blood cell count. She talked to us like it was no big deal but you could tell by just looking at Juan Carlos that he was worried about his wife.
When Josh and I got home yesterday from class at 5 and found that no one was home we didn’t think much about it since it happens often. However, when only Juan Carlos came home at 7pm something seemed a little off. He told us that during the blood transfusion, Gleys started to faint and get sick. She was then rushed to the ER so they could figure out what was wrong. It turns out that nothing was seriously wrong but it did cause quite a scare. They moved her to a room in the hospital and started the blood flow again. Juan Carlos said that Gleys kept telling him to go home and make dinner for Josh and me. Haha what a good host mother. Even when she’s lying in a hospital bed she still wants to worry over her “kids”. Juan Carlos ordered dinner for us from a restaurant. He then asked us if we wanted to go with him to visit Gleys in the hospital.
Of course we wanted to so we all took a cab. At the hospital we sat in the room with Jose, our host brother, Gleys’ mother, and Juan Carlos. We all tried to lighten the mood by making jokes and laughing at our inability to speak Spanish. They brought food in for Gleys and that’s when I had my “awww” moment. Juan Carlos was cutting the food for Gleys and feeding it to her even though she was quite capable of doing it on her own. And she was letting him do it even though she could have done it better and faster herself. I knew at that moment that they were going to love each other for eternity. I witnessed the kind of love that nothing could shatter, that nothing could tear apart.
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| Juan Carlos & Gleys |
After sitting around a bit, Jose, Josh, Grandma, and myself all went down to the hospital cafeteria to get Jose and Grandma some food. We listened to Grandma talk about where she used to work as a switchboard operator for a telephone company and about her mother who is 97 years old. She talks very fast so I only got parts of the story. She asked me if I understood at the end and I said, “mas or menos” which means, “more or less.” She then proceeded to laugh at me and I joined in and laughed at myself with her. It was good bonding time. She’s a cool old lady who desperately loves her daughter. She ended up spending the night at the hospital with Gleys last night, by the way.
We went back up to the room and said our goodbyes. I told Gleys that I was praying for her and their family and that if I could help out around the house I would. Whatever they needed I said I would help with. On the way down in the elevator I asked Juan Carlos how he was doing with this whole situation. He said he was fine but then proceeded to tell us that he cried when we all left the room. Poor guy. The love of his life is sick and all he wants to do is make her better. Even with his wife sick in the hospital, Juan Carlos is a great host dad to us and an amazing and caring father to his son. On top of that, he runs his company, takes care of their dog, Brownie, keeps the house clean, and does all this with a God-oriented attitude. I don’t think you could find a better man in Costa Rica and I’m proud to know him. Gracias a Dios por Juan Carlos. Amén.
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