Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Priorities

My step-father is in the hospital, having a procedure. It's not life threatening, but he'll be eighty-six tomorrow, so it's just a bit of a bummer for him to have to wake up in a hospital on his birthday.

My mother called me around eight o'clock. She said she was tired, since she had been up since six this morning, hungry and bored. She also sounded cranky. My step-father has been in surgery for almost five hours now, and she's irritated. She can't get a cell phone signal in the hospital, she has to walk a mile of corridors to get outside where she can use the phone and when she finally gets there, she realizes she forgot her coat, so she's freezing while standing there talking to me.

No wonder she's cranky. We chatted a while and she told me she'd call with an update later tonight. I told her to call my brother to ask him to come hang out with her, but she strongly objected, not wanting to bother him. She said, "And don't you call him either."

"OK, OK. I won't." I said.

We hang up and I immediatly dialed my brother.

He was reading bedtime stories to the boys but said as soon as he's done, he'd go over to the hospital. I thanked him and reminded him to bring her a sweatshirt or something since she was cold.

"Oh, and maybe stop by the house and get her book, so she's not bored sitting there." I said. "And some sunflower seeds too, she likes to munch on those while she's reading."

"Yeah, okay. Any other shopping you want me to do before I go over there?" And I thought I was the Ruler In The World Of Sarcasm.

After showing up, keeping her company and waiting for my step-dad to get out of surgery, he followed her home to make sure she got there okay and then called me with an update. Seems he had to look at the floor the entire time the surgeon was explaining what he did, because he was a dead ringer for Eddie Murphy in Coming To America and my brother just couldn't concentrate.

Once that ordeal was over with, both he and my mother went to visit my step-father in his room. When they got there, my mother noticed that Dancing With The Stars was on TV and blurted out, "Oh, shit! I missed Dancing With The Stars!"

My brother looked at her, shook his head and said "Oh, real nice, Ma."

1 comment:

Sauntering Soul said...

Okay, the last part make me crack up! But I'm sorry your family is dealing with this scary stuff right now. I hope your stepfather is okay really soon! Take care. Sending hugs your way.