Weird, how things, worked themselves out, how sometimes, things are, already set, we just don’t know it, until, it happens…translated…
I’m a firm believer, that people connecting is solely, based off of, affinity, it’s just, that how deep the connections are, aren’t, up to people to decide. Some met up on an airplane, and became, a married couple; some were sharing the same dormitories in the armed services, and became, closer than, brothers; while others may live under the same roofs, but, interacted as strangers. All of these, can be, attributed to, affinity, it’s, just the depth of the affinity being, different is all.
My husband’s older siblings are all, elderly, there are those who are, demented, and those who are, immobilized. And because most of them lived alone, for the sake of their own, safety, their children hired the foreign caretakers to look after them.
A little over three years ago, I’d learned that the Indonesian nurse, Lina who was assigned to taking care of my eldest sister-in-law, upon arriving in Taiwan, she’d, fallen ill, got hospitalized, what’s worse was, my eldest sister-in-law’s younger brother had a car accident, and shortly, her father, passed too, she was, forced, to take two months’ pay beforehand to pay for the trials, which meant, that she wouldn’t be able to send the money home for two months afterwards.
I felt sorry for Lena, or maybe, it’s because I’d lived through the trials of not knowing if there’ll be enough food on the tables, the days we’d had to, go to the shops, to ask for the handouts of rice first, and paid for the food later, I’d still, recalled those days, and felt the pains. So, whenever there are the troubles of my next-of-kin or friends, I’d, more than loved to, help out.
Although, I’d not met Lena, but I knew the trials she’d encountered in life, and, gave her some money so she can have her family life back to normal. She’d worked for my eldest brother and sister-in-law for a little over two years, then, transferred to Kaohsiung, three months ago, my husband’s third eldest sister got sick, her son and daughter-in-law filed for a foreign nurse, and, Lena was the one who came, everybody was in awe, at the affinities she had with our family, there are, tens of thousands of migrant workers, and, she was the one, assigned to the family!
After Lena started looking after my husband’s third eldest sister, a little over two months, my husband’s sister passed, Lena was, out of a job temporarily. And at this time, my husband was, hospitalized, because he’s getting older, I was, contemplating on whether or not I should, hire a nurse for him, as our relatives learned, they’d all, recommended Lena to us, and so, as my husband got out of the hospital, Lena arrived at Taipei with her agent. At the moment I saw her, I gave her, a big hug, thanked her for willing to, come to my household to help out.
Every day I’d watched her taking care of my husband with tentativeness, other than feeling grateful, I’d also felt, that “affinity” is something amazing, with the twists, and turns too!
And so, this, is how sometimes, things worked, you have that sort of connection, that you were aware of with someone else in this world, and, no matter what, the two of you will eventually, meet up together, that, is how affinity works, like the experiences of this family, with the foreign hired nurse to look after the family members who’d, fell ill.
Life, the Obstacle Course 