Hallelujah days
Judy Conlin
Nurse Judy, my critical alter ego, comes stamping into my office carrying a copy of The Havana Herald in her hand. She scowls at me and says, “You are such a shallow person.”
I look at her wearing sheer pink negligee with high heeled slippers with pink fluff across the top. She has on more makeup than a McDonald’s clown. “I’m shallow?” I ask sarcastically . “Take a look at yourself.”
“I’m tasteful,” she says. “Look at you sitting there with no makeup in a stained, robe held together with a safety pin. You are disgusting.”
I’m a little hurt but determined to be the better person. “These are just my lounging and writing clothes,” I say. I always change if I’m going out.”
“Thank goodness for that,” she says snidely or else you’d be arrested as a vagrant.”
I’ve got to get this conversation turned around or we’re going to have a very bad day. I try changing the subject. “What’s with the newspaper?’ I ask.
“The paper is the reason I came to confront you,” she says.” It shows how shallow you are.”
“What did I say?” I ask, trying to be reasonable.
“You said that when all your violets bloom at the same time, it’s a hallelujah day.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“ With all the things going on in life, you choose to call blooming violets a great day. This is not the first time you’ve said that, and it is not the first time you wrote about it in the paper. You really are shallow.”
I think about this. I look back through my old articles. It is true that I’ve mentioned my violets before and when they all bloom at once I have called it a hallelujah day. Could my misguided alter ego be right?”
Before I can come up with a reply, she interrupts. “Just what is a hallelujah day?” she asks
I think a bit. “It’s a day when all is right with my world.-a day that makes me feel serene and happy.”
“And violets are the only thing that does that for you?”
I feel the sarcasm in her voice, and I realize that what she is saying sounds true, but I know it’s not. “Violets are not the only thing,” I say slowly. “ I have many hallelujah days.”
“Name some,” she says.
It’s a hallelujah day for me when:
. I look up in the sky and see a shooting star
. both cats snuggle on my lap at the same time.
. the first crocus pops up in the spring.
. I know the hymns at church by heart
. someone tells me my column makes them smile
, Carrie Underwood sings gospel songs.
. I see the American flag flying proudly.
my soul is rejuvenated by the Sunday service
. the house is clean, the laundry done, and I can sit on my porch and hear the birds singing and
“Whoa,” she says. “ If this is true and you’re not just a shallow hussy, you better put some of those in your column.”.
She’s right. I am a lucky person. Every day has some hallelujah in it, I just have to look for it.
More later,
Judy
www.nursejudyinfo.com
