6 Our traveling retirees: Anne Bender’s heavenly vision Editor’s note: Board member Anne Bender is on an extended trip to Germany with her husband Jan. Here she recounts an experience she had while visiting relatives in southern Germany. hen I arrived in Sonthofen, Bavaria in January, it was 15 degrees Celsius below zero (5 degrees Fahrenheit). The joy with which I was hugged by my relatives warmed me all over. Sonthofen, southwest of Munich, is a quaint city about the size of Monmouth. It is also the place where a pediatrician saved my life 64 years ago. On Feb. 18, my birthday, I invited my 82-year-old aunt Maria and a neighbor to dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was buffet style, and when I got up for my ice cream dessert I started a nosebleed into my ice cream cup. Rushing into the bathroom, with my aunt trailing, I spread beautiful red in every direction. It was such a spectacle that other guests came to watch me. An ambulance arrived and rushed me to the same hospital I had been sent to as a child. My nosebleed was stopped but my blood pressure was dangerously high. I couldn’t help thinking back to my earlier time in this place. My hospital room was located between the nurses’ station and the ward for men. As time trickled away, I began to feel sorry for myself and imagined dying in the hospital where I had been taken at the age of four. Suddenly the door to the men’s ward near my bed opened. A beam of light outlined a beautiful being. The big clock above my room door showed it was 2:00 am, and the being was a stark naked young man bravely holding both hands over a spot below his navel. (Hallelujah! If this was my send-off, thank you, God!!) “You have the wrong room,” I said to him. He said nothing but wandered around my bed and sat down on the chair in the corner. Was I worried? No!! I wondered where his wings were. The bathroom near the front door to my room was open; he got up, went in, and locked the door. So much for my fantasy of a heavenly companion; he had to go to the bathroom! My thoughts were interrupted by two nurses storming into my room, yelling, "Mrs. Bender, have you seen someone coming in here?" I pointed quietly toward the bathroom door. Oh, this was sad, like giving your friend’s hiding place away. Anne Bender, pictured outside the Bender family home in Hanerau, Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany. Photo by Jan Bender. The nurses began banging on the bathroom door, yelling, “Come out immediately!" They sounded more like prison guards than nurses. A little voice behind the door wanted to know where his clothes were. He was told his parents had taken them home. Finally the door to the bathroom opened and the nurses ushered the young man out. He gave me a last look, and I shrugged my shoulders to indicate that I was sorry. He turned to go, and at that moment I saw evidence of utter cuteness, because only angels can have such darling posteriors. My hospital stay ended two days and 1,996 Euros later, and I am still laughing. --Anne Bender Editor’s Note: This is the last issue of the RAPS Sheet until September. Have a great summer! W
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