Illness and Reality

When I was about 16 I’ve been very ill for some months. Rheumatic Fever, they call it. It’s pretty rare in our days in occident, a bacteria attacking heart, kidneys, among many other dangerous things. It was frightening…

I noticed two things :

• People were watching me differently (I had the label “dangerous disease” on my forehead).
• I watched life differently too.

When you carry something like that, diabetes, cancer, or even… pregnancy, you evolve in the world in another way. You swim in another water. You have different glasses. Some things become very important, and some others things you see seem ridiculous. Yes it’s an insularity : somewhere it makes you lonely. You don’t get other people’s dramas. And you don’t necessarily want to explain why…

Do you say? When do you have to? What kind of island are you on? Who understands? Do you need to find similar cases to share with? What is different, if you dig? Where is the fear? The security?

Good day!

Instagram : Leahminium

Is your Insulin Pump a Female ?

OK I’m French. When I began to learn english at school I was interested, but also surprised by two things.

1 : In English, things have no gender. In French, things do have a gender. La voiture (car, female), la maison (house, female – does it make sense ?), le soleil (sun, male) et la lune (moon, female).

OK, I know, “un arbre” (a tree, male) is difficult to say for an American…

So you see ? For us, a car and an house, the rain and the moon are female. A pen, a month, a tree, and the sun are male. In France, a dress (une robe) is female, and trousers (un pantalon) : male.

Well it doesn’t matter, you could say. But i does matter, poetically at least, no ? A car is obviously a female, for a French. I assure you !

2 : In English, possessive pronouns agree with the possessor. It’s the contrary here.

If the car belongs to Mary, it’s HER car. But if it belongs to John, it’s HIS car.

Well, in french, il s’agit de SA voiture. Her car. In both case. Because it agrees to the noun !

…and a car is a female, as you know.

So, well, your insulin pump, this little assistant, une pompe, is a female. Say hi !

Tool : in case of lukewarmness, just check the french translation. Add the gender in front of each element. Then try a little systemic therapy, hahaha.