Stress anyone? ...
A tough day.....
To set the stage... I was on my 2nd day of a new assignment with my current employer...new boss, new responsibilities, new co-workers...even though I've had the same employer for 26 years, I am the "new guy" in this area, and we all barely know each other...kind of tumultuous change for us. At 11:30 am I get a page to call my wife. Our 18 YO daughter, who has a heart condition, was taken to emergency via ambulance. My wife, a kindergarten teacher for a teeny-tiny private Catholic school who can't afford substitutes, has to leave work b/c it's out of the question for me to leave...we have no idea which mother, grandmother, principle, janitor, etc, covered her class for her. I join them at 3pm at the end of my shift, and they decide to transfer her to a hospital with better specialty facilities at 5pm. I get dinner duty and school open house duty for the younger kids, and my wife chases the ambulance. (it's amazing that life goes on in midst of a crisis
) I managed to hold down the fort, and my wife and daughter come home ~ 11:15 pm....all is "stable". 
.
While we're still discussing this trying day, the door bell starts to ring non-stop at ~ 11:40pm. It's the local police, holding my 20 YO son's sneakers, saying he's been struck by a car at 10:15pm while crossing the street a few miles away...hit and run with vague descriptions of the car from witnesses who heard the thud. They told us soon after that he doesn't have life threatening injuries but we need to go to emergency....my turn
. I find him in a neck brace, strapped to a back board, and scraped and bleeding from head to toe. I also found his girlfriend, his girlfriend's mother, his girlfriend's mother's best friend, along with her daughter also waiting for him in emergency! (the cops called the last number dialed from his cell phone before contacting us!) I convinced all but his girlfriend to go home to bed. Anyway, he's ok....he's very sore, bruised, has a half dozen gauze bandages, a cast on a broken ankle, and a good bump and a concussion, but is going to be fine considering. We arrive back home at 6:20am after a very looong night. At this point I've had less than an hours sleep, so I called work and had to take an untimely vacation day, but thank God it's an option....and while I"m at it...thank God everyone's ok.
In summary, 1 fire truck, 1 ambulance, and 5 police cars visit the house from two calls about 12 hours apart, 3 ambulance rides to 3 hospitals for 2 children, two emergency room bills that I know of, and am expecting a third plus "additional fees" to follow....not to mention regular "life" with 6 kids. We're very fortunate that everyone's going to be ok, but I gotta tell ya...I'm just a bit "rattled" at the moment, and sleep isn't coming as easily as I might have thought. To top it off, the closest "Grandma" (my Mom) is vacationing 1000 miles west of here until next week...won't even have a shoulder to cry on for a while! Time for a deep breath and a little prayerful reflection on my "day off".
To set the stage... I was on my 2nd day of a new assignment with my current employer...new boss, new responsibilities, new co-workers...even though I've had the same employer for 26 years, I am the "new guy" in this area, and we all barely know each other...kind of tumultuous change for us. At 11:30 am I get a page to call my wife. Our 18 YO daughter, who has a heart condition, was taken to emergency via ambulance. My wife, a kindergarten teacher for a teeny-tiny private Catholic school who can't afford substitutes, has to leave work b/c it's out of the question for me to leave...we have no idea which mother, grandmother, principle, janitor, etc, covered her class for her. I join them at 3pm at the end of my shift, and they decide to transfer her to a hospital with better specialty facilities at 5pm. I get dinner duty and school open house duty for the younger kids, and my wife chases the ambulance. (it's amazing that life goes on in midst of a crisis
) I managed to hold down the fort, and my wife and daughter come home ~ 11:15 pm....all is "stable". . While we're still discussing this trying day, the door bell starts to ring non-stop at ~ 11:40pm. It's the local police, holding my 20 YO son's sneakers, saying he's been struck by a car at 10:15pm while crossing the street a few miles away...hit and run with vague descriptions of the car from witnesses who heard the thud. They told us soon after that he doesn't have life threatening injuries but we need to go to emergency....my turn
. I find him in a neck brace, strapped to a back board, and scraped and bleeding from head to toe. I also found his girlfriend, his girlfriend's mother, his girlfriend's mother's best friend, along with her daughter also waiting for him in emergency! (the cops called the last number dialed from his cell phone before contacting us!) I convinced all but his girlfriend to go home to bed. Anyway, he's ok....he's very sore, bruised, has a half dozen gauze bandages, a cast on a broken ankle, and a good bump and a concussion, but is going to be fine considering. We arrive back home at 6:20am after a very looong night. At this point I've had less than an hours sleep, so I called work and had to take an untimely vacation day, but thank God it's an option....and while I"m at it...thank God everyone's ok. In summary, 1 fire truck, 1 ambulance, and 5 police cars visit the house from two calls about 12 hours apart, 3 ambulance rides to 3 hospitals for 2 children, two emergency room bills that I know of, and am expecting a third plus "additional fees" to follow....not to mention regular "life" with 6 kids. We're very fortunate that everyone's going to be ok, but I gotta tell ya...I'm just a bit "rattled" at the moment, and sleep isn't coming as easily as I might have thought. To top it off, the closest "Grandma" (my Mom) is vacationing 1000 miles west of here until next week...won't even have a shoulder to cry on for a while!
Time for a deep breath and a little prayerful reflection on my "day off".
Black wallnut
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