The Healing Journey

October 20, 2024

Whenever Cynthia spent time rummaging through the family photo box, she made a new discovery about the loved ones who were gone. Her aunt Jane died of tuberculosis as a young woman, and many of the photos that Cynthia found were of her while she was living in a sanatorium during early 1930s. At the time, Cynthia’s mother Betty was still a young child, coping with the death of her own mother. “My mother had three huge deaths in her young life, and so she cherished the stories from the photo box,” Cynthia said. It was a way that she could touch her past, but a past that she knew only through pictures and stories she heard.

“My mother’s family seemed to be pretty well off during her older sisters’ young lives, but during the early 1930s of the Great Depression, when my mother was a child, they were very poor.

“Jane was the first to come down with the TB — she was already coughing up blood upon her diagnosis,” Cynthia said. “So, not only Jane, but my mother and another sister and brother a few years older were all sent to a sanatorium. This was the normal way of dealing with the disease once they realized how contagious it was. I am not sure how many months they had to stay until they were deemed safe or healthy.  But, sadly, Jane died of the disease. However, the younger three went home and went on to live healthy lives.

“I remember my mother mentioning later in life that they took X-rays of her lungs regularly to make sure the TB was dormant. She said there will always be a black spot on her lung from it.

“Even though I never met these people, the stories make me sad. After spending time with my mother and the photo box, I came to feel that I knew them, and I definitely felt my mother’s sadness.”

When we realize the incredible grief our parents and grandparents lived through — we realize that grief has been a part of life for thousands of years. Even getting a glimpse into the pain they felt creates an unexpected and powerful bond with a person who may be part of our distant past. Instead of focusing on the sadness, perhaps we can recognize the opportunity God is giving us to become more loving and compassionate people in a way we never imagined.

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