My dear, sweet (and just a bit kooky) friend Suzi is having an important surgery Wednesday. She’s having her second BAHA implant done. Now, for those of you (like me) who think a BAHA is some type of desert dune buggy, let me help you out. A BAHA is a surgically implantable system for treatment of hearing loss that works through direct bone conduction (I just copied and pasted that from a hearing loss website). In my words it's a little box thingy that Suzi attaches to this little post (which is implanted behind her ear) and it lets her hear.
But that’s just a device; let me share a little about my dear friend Suzi. I met Suzi about five years ago. We had attended the same church and were cordial to one another, but we didn’t really know each other (and I have no excuse, because it wasn’t that big of a church). Suzi joined our Tuesday morning Bible study and we haven’t looked back. She is one of my dearest friends and I am awestruck at her resilience. Suzi hasn’t had an easy life, she’s had a number of surgeries – like 20 or so – and she deals with an ongoing inner ear thing that makes her dizzy often, but that’s not what defines her. What defines her is a heart that is purely in love with the Lord and a person who is truly sweet soul.
Suzi and I were just getting to know one another and went out to lunch one day. I was throwing a little pity party about someone at church. Instead of jumping on the bandwagon with me and running this person down, Suzi took the high road and said we ought to pray for her. Wham! God just smacked me right upside the head (now, I know that’s bad grammar, but I love the way it sounds). I loved this woman from that moment on. I didn’t need another person in my life who was willing to jump on my gossip wagon and Suzi wasn’t remotely interested in my talking bad about anyone. I knew right then, that this woman was God –sent.
Suzi has an amazing spirit and she sings like an angel—which is even more amazing when you consider her hearing loss. But Suzi is also the funny one of our group of girlfriends. She has a quirky sense of humor that just makes me laugh. I don’t get to see her as much as I once did – work and life just seem to get in our way. And I miss spending time with her. We do manage to get away with our girlfriends group for the occasional weekend – which is filled with laughter and almost constant talking.
I’m praying that Suzi’s procedure goes off without a hitch. My dear friend deserves some not-so-dizzy days and I can’t wait to have her hearing in stereo!