Vulnerable
This afternoon I drove north on 55 at
rush hour on my way to draw at HCMC… I looked for the Tent Encampement and then
there it was. So visible and invisible. So much need so apparent. And so much
vulnerability. I could not stop to draw for I was on my way to the hospital.
Parking was easy to find in the late
afternoon and I hesitated in my car. No one was expecting me, but I made my
way. In the coffee shop a large woman spotted me and asked about the support
hose I was wearing and we chatted. She did not want to be drawn.
Drawing is connecting and it can be
vulnerable too. I kept walking and found my way to a nurses’s station on the 4th
floor.
There
I drew and visited with a nurse in the Surgical Trauma unit. I tried to do my best.
Then I sat in a chair and drew the long
hallway of Cares as people passed by, as someone was guided on a gurney far
down the hall. The empty and the full hall… and the vulnerable patients in
their rooms struggling with pain.
On the way home I drove closer to the
encampment. There are amenities and there are needs and there is my friends
articulate letter to the editor this morning
I drew the best I could and then left to
come home. Here I sit with my husband and his vulnerable health.. and my own
vulnerabilities come sharply into focus as well as I struggle to sell my art and make ends meet.
