Volume 68, Issue 4 | Page 29

REFLECTIONS REFLECTIONS: THE CALL AUTHOR Teresita Bacani-Oropilla, MD At 5:30 in the morning, when dreams of last night are coming to a close and the warmth of the bedcovers cling to a rested body, the cell phone rings. The voice of a niece announces in the dialect of one’s youth, “Malapit na,” “It is almost time!” She is calling from the Philippines, on the opposite side of our Western world, where the sun is just setting and calling it a day. This niece and her sisters, practicing their professions in both East and West, realized their mother and aunts would welcome a reprieve from months of physical and emotional isolation, courtesy of COVID-19. What about arranging an island-to-island, country-to-country call similar to those done for armed forces assigned overseas? They do it for their patients anyways, calling it telehealth. That would mean easy instructions for the younger aunts who are savvy with the ways of the electronic world, but rather laborious one-on-one specific sequences on what buttons to touch for the uninitiated. We are talking about smart but ignorant ex-professionals between the ages of 75-92 of the pre-computer age, lost in a sea of personal passwords, country and island codes, message numbers and group codes. That would be like the kindergartener trying to figure out the map of the planets in his fifth grade sibling’s classroom. But they – the nieces – made it work, and “it was time.” Having not seen each other for four years, now here we were! Siblings, together! As a group. Alive on video! BLISS was the word! All were mobile still. One had cut her own hair. Her hairdresser was under isolation too. Faces were scrutinized for signs of aging; a few wrinkles here and there were dismissed if they could be covered by makeup. The scar of a removed two-month-old mole was lauded because it wasn’t a melanoma. Silver hairs among the black were overshadowed by hair dyes or blond highlights. Another sibling was losing all of hers after chemotherapy. She was wished gently wavy replacement black hair, as little rootlets were popping up on her scalp. (“Be gone scarves and caps!”) All eyes were functioning and glowed with enthusiasm under bifocals. (“The better to see you, my dear, says the wolf!”) Talk was without decorum, ideas piled upon one another. News of growing grandchildren was exchanged with pride; old relatives and friends who now live in the hereafter, mourned. Family jokes were revived - the sting of some having lost their flavor, as people matured. This family’s virtual reunion emphasized once more that people do need each other. Old classmates, childhood friends, colleagues in medical school who shared ambitions and fears, war buddies. These all stir up memories that make us who we are. What profit a man with the highest honors, success and wealth if there is no one to share them with? We all need food for our souls to survive our imperfect world. We are endowed with wisdom and creativity. Creating levity and love for ourselves and others could be a starting goal. Thank you, my nieces! You did well! Dr. Bacani-Oropilla is a retired pediatrician and child psychiatrist. SEPTEMBER 2020 27