Hospital chronicles : drawing inspiration from aruna

I met aruna more than a year ago on the other side of the curtain at 603. I was into my 9th week of pregnancy and she at her 18th. During our first conversation, she tells me that she has to be at the hospital, head low, for the rest of her term. Quite immediately my mind went into performing the math. A whopping 22weeks at the hospital, the can-get-up-only-to-pee types. I wanted to tell her how brave she was and how I would never be able to do it. To be confined. But I didnt. Little did I know that a similar fate was waiting to befall me. Came October when my period of confinement started and I heard from the sisters that she had delivered already and her babies were in the NICU.
To me she was a forerunner. Someone to look up to and be positive. The few days that we shared a room, never once have I seen her shed a tear. Her voice, as soft as her nature, would always sound hopeful and positive. I could sense the determination in her. And she won indeed, walking out of the mickey mouse glass doors, smiling,  holding her babies tight. To me she was proof in life and blood that the tunnel opens up to light. I awed at how much pressure she handled without crumbling and constantly believing that soon the carbon would turn into diamonds. I tried to think of her and be positive always while our boys struggled at the NICU. Well except for the five resuscitations that happened in front of me. Come on, I'm human too.
It has been so easy for us to converse cause we have shared a dark part of our lives at different instances though. How our conversations run on kids, food, MILs, books,  birthday preparations and what not. How our conversations mostly end with our mutual goodwill for Dr K and the entire NICU team. Of how thankful we are.
Today I wish to tell her how brave and graceful she is and we join hands to celebrate . We celebrate the patience and strength she carried throughout her period at the hospital. We celebrate her feet that made her stand on strongly and her hands that wanted to heal at touch. We celebrate her eyes and ears that saw and heard scary things and yet her mind that refused to believe and her heart that kept pumping her with hope. Today, marks a year since the diamonds began to get evolved. Today we celebrate the little diamonds Aadhira - Aadhiran and the persevering carbon form Aruna.
Wishing them a happy ever after.
Cheers,
Hopie