Louise Sandberg:  

I felt the scorpion bite my finger under my pillow and I pulled the pillow up. It jumped on my face and injected its poison into my cheek. That was August 1986, and my life has never been the same. I remember the day my mother told me I was accepted into kindergarten at Queen of the Most Holy Rosary. I was standing outside our house by the side door, and my mother told me I got a letter from the nuns. I was so thrilled!! I didn't have a nun until Sr. Mary Angela in 4th grade! I was happy to be accepted to Maria Regina DHS. My years there are also filled with memories of dances, time hanging out in the cafeteria, my best friends. I remember Mr. Samuel's class and how one of the guys used to keep track of which suit jacket he would wear and figured out the pattern. He told Mr. Samuel one day, and Mr. S. got mad, told us all to leave. The only person who left was Neil Mooney. We just had a reunion 7/12/08, and it was wonderful to see so many friends. There were 2 live 70's bands made up of our own classmates - so talented. Neil didn't remember the incident, but he did remember having a reputation for cutting class although he never did. We danced and he sad he was dancing with al the pretty girls he never got a chance to dance in HS. I was flattered until I was leaving and he called me Jean! I had many friends but only kept up with a few of them. Now I see that the memories are dear to me. I went to Adelphi University School of Nursing. I joined Sigma Kappa Sorority and had my first date - a blind date, to my sorority's formal. Haiti in the summer of 1975 introduced me to poverty in a way I couldn't imagine. I saw people with nothing, people who were starving, but were gracious and happy, loving and joyful. They called out "Bon jour, blanc" to me wherever I went. They got into my heart. I visited Disney on the way home, and people who were in a land created for pleasure were complaining, did not greet me or even look at me. What a culture shock! I got a job at LJ South Shore Division in pediatrics. the hospital was sold to St John's Episcopal Hospital in the first month of my employment. It was hot -- no air conditioning -- but a beautiful breeze from the ocean if we kept the windows open. In October 1976 I met the first love of my life, Mark N. I was on a train going to visit Ellen Bonardi from MR DHS in Rhode Island, and I sat next to him. We fell in love, and planned to marry in December. He was in the coast guardon Governor's Island. It was all very romantic. It lasted about 2 months. Then his issues with drugs, sex and alcohol took over, and we parted ways. He left me with the kissing disease, Infectious Mononucleosis, and I took a month to recover, after almost getting fired for malingering after a misdiagnosis of "receding URI". I longed to travel as a nurse to serve the poor in another country. I got information from the Peace Corps, but it was all about teaching nursing. I did not feel I had enough experience and knowledge to teach, so I went to Philadelphia, intending to go to graduate school at U of P. I knew I was in for the time of my life when I got a ride in a police car to the train station and the officer told me "There's a body in the back" I said, "That's OK, I'm a nurse." I worked at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, first living in Center City and then in West Philadelphia, attending the U of P. I met the most wonderful people there and even got to live with many of them. I am still friends with Paul A, Nuala (now Sister Nuala), and Jude (Orange Jude). We called the first house we lived in the Roach House because the houses on either side were deserted and we got all the mice and roaches. The second house we shared was the Penguin House, and that was the best. There were always 4 or 5 or 6 of us living there, and we loved each other. After I graduated from U of P, I became a nurse at the Home of the Merciful Saviour for Crippled Children. We changed the namt to the Home of the Merciful Children for Crippled Saviors. We started a Girl Scout troop there. My whole family came to help take the kids on an outing. Mindy told my father a joke. Her speech was not clear and he thought she wanted something and asked me to interpret. He was so delighted that instead she wanted to know how to tell if you have an elephant in your refrigerator!! (The footprints in the jello). Germantown Hospital School of Nursing needed a pediatric nursing teacher, so I applied. Needed a car to get there, so Neil Lipperini taught me how to drive a stick shift on my orange VW Rabbit, Pumpkin. My mother and I became clowns in 1984 in Philadelphia for Clown Ministry, complete with white faces and clown noses. Well, by the time I was looking at turning 30, still single, and not wanting just to end up single, I went to a spiritual director for help. She suggested I spend one month living as though I was single and would always be single, one month living as though I was married, and one month living as though I was a nun, and see which way I was happiest and which way I was freest to serve God. I have followed that advice every 10 years since then. Three months later, it was clear that I was happiest and freest as a single person. I woke up on Thanksgiving of 1984 and God was in the room. I was in Nuala's house in Mahopac on my way to my parents, and I had the sense of the presence of God filling her little room. I said, "God you're too big to be in this room!!" We both laughed. In the next 1/2 hour I experienced God's love and presence, showing me how God loved me all my life through my parents and friends, and being invited to be like Mother Theresa. I remembered my discernment about becoming a nun, saw Mother T as old and being pulled in a million different directions, and I said that I didn't want to be like her. I felt sadness from God and I thought "I must have misunderstood the question. If you want me to I will." I then saw her differently. She was dead to herself, only God living through her. I spoke to my friend, Nuala, and she had no idea what to do. I spoke to my parents, and they had never known anyone that had happened to. I went to church on Sunday, and the Jesuit priest who spoke said, "When you pray, don't just talk. Listen to God, and God will speak to you." I thought, "Either this happened to him, or he knows about people this happens to." The next year, 1985, took me through the spiritual exercises of St Ignatius and to a calling to go to serve the poor in another land as well as the poor in the USA. I wrote letters to many volunteer organizations, and got disappointing answers. You are too late for this year. You need to make a 3 year commitment. (I thought God wanted 6 months here and 6 months there). Finally I got a letter inviting me to Bolgatanga, Northern Ghana, West Africa for 6 months to work as a nurse. By the end of January 1986, I was in the lane heading there. I had a moment of knowing that everything I had ever learned was preparing me for this moment. I got stuck in Burkina Faso on the way there because of a visa problem. I was able to communicate with the Fara Fara people with gestures, French and signs. When I finally got to Bolgatanga, I felt like God had given me special time with his favorite people. It was like our personalities were perfectly matched. They loved to sing and dance and play, as do I. I immediately asked for someone to be my teacher so I could learn the language. In the 2nd week, a woman was in labor and we helped deliver the baby who was breach. We called for thread and a clean razor blade. The midwife, Sr. Lena, delivered the little girl who wasn't breathing. I had just taken a refresher course in CPR, and I started to breathe for the little girl. "God, please help this little girl to live." Breathe. "You brought me here for a reason." Breathe. Someone came with hot water. (Don't they always boil water in those old movies?) The room we were in was made of mud, cold and cave like. we put warm water on the baby, a...Expand for more