enJOY it

Last night I realized that there are much scarier things than giant dragonflies.

So I go to the gym.  And get home to an empty house.  No worries.  Then Mom calls the cell and goes, "Leese?  We’re at the hospital."  Only her voice is not normal.  It is like she is trying not to cry.  And I freak out.  Freak out.  And I just start saying "Mom, I can’t handle it.  Mom, I can’t handle it."  And she is trying to talk over me but I just can’t handle it.  Finally she goes, "Is Robbie home?"  And I breathe.  I breathe because I thought my baby brother was hurt.  I breathe because she isn’t at the hospital because of him.

So then I sit down.  Like in the movies where they go, "Are you sitting down?"  I had to sit down.  I actually had to sit down.  And she tells me that Dad was having chest pains and they took him to the hospital and they were running a lot of tests.  She says that they do not know anything yet.  That they are just waiting and it could be awhile.  She says she’ll call me later.

We hang up.  And I walked around the kitchen until Ro got home.  And we talked about it.  We played with the dog.  We waited for a call.  Dad called.  We talked.  Mom called.  She came home.  Dad spent the night there.  He got released this morning.  They are not sure what was wrong.  But his tests are normal.  He has to monitor himself closely. 

Whew.  Huge reminder of what is important.  Of how I need the fam.  Of how without them, I’ve got nothing.

We’re all okay.