To the Artist's Page                  To our home page

To Scott Holstad's previous piece     To Scott Holstad's next piece

Lisa

I keep thinking of you in
Arizona, sweltering in the
brilliant white heat

of your flying over
to visit me in the
hospital,

only to learn upon
arrival that you have to
Save Me.

It wasn't fair, I
know.  I could possibly
have waited another

hour or so before trying
to hang myself, but I felt
like I just couldn't take

it anymore.  After getting
over the initial shock of
seeing me getting roughed

up in lockdown, you
turned the juices on,
man.  You called

Everyone - the insurance
company (a billion times),
my company's HR dept.,

my doctors, family,
friends who were on
their way out from

Tennessee to visit.  You
came to see me every
freakin' visiting hour.

Of course, after they
moved me from Los
Encinas over to Cedars,

it was quite a hike for
a lousy one hour visit.
And you did that

twice a day!  You
brought me a news
paper, smuggled me

candy, told me what
was going on.  You
were Our pillar of

Strength.  I owe you
much, first of all,
beginning with a little

sanity for awhile.
Rest, relaxation, 
kick back, don't worry

about me.
Unfortunately,
no can do, babe.

You're going to NAMI
meetings, seeing
doctors, flying over to

see mine, going to
grad school and getting
TWO grad degrees

while teaching at the
same time.  I used to
think I was Superman.

Now,
I
know better.

To the top of this page