Sometimes life makes more sense when you look at it in reverse  . That's certainly been true for me. Last Christmas, at 39, I caught a disease which attacked my knees and eyes. At its worst I could hardly walk or see. For months I' d have to crawl   across the floor to use the bathroom or get a drink of water when my husband wasn't home. For a while I could only see shapes and colors so I couldn't drive. My parents kept begging me to let them come out to stay with me in Los Angeles, but our apartment is small and I knew there was nothing they could really do to help me. For the excellent health insurance my husband had through his job, I was receiving the best medical care possible. My only problem was that I couldn't drive to my doctors' appointments and I didn't want my husband to keep missing work to drive me. Three days after I explained this to my parents, a check came from them with a note saying this was "taxi money". Several months later another check showed up from my brother to help make up our income since I wasn't able to work. It probably goes without saying that I was extremely grateful to have family members who could and would support me during the hard time. In terms of my day-to-day existence, I live in a village within Los Angeles called Brentwood so I was able to walk to the local post office, market, bank, and library. But once there, I had to depend on the kindness of strangers to help me. Los Angeles is a big city, but I lived in a village with a wonderful community   of people who were kind and patient. Slowly I became well. Life was good again and I thought I had a clear understanding of the blessings   this illness has provided. When the author's husband was at home, he   _  .
was still busy working often had a good rest often helped her a lot taught her to drive a car