April 12 – “Passing out …”

The young girls on Cailyn’s softball team had an unexpected occurrence at their game last night.  After our first girl hit a double and the second got to second base on a fielder’s choice, a lady came flying out of the opponents’ dugout doing her best to get the ump’s attention by hollering “Time out, time out.”  A little but of chaos ensued, as first one then an entire array of people disappeared into the dugout, including our coach, a retired police officer, and the assistant coach’s wife, a trauma nurse.  Our team was quite confused, but they all stayed in our dugout and waited quietly.  The other team’s girls went out into the outfield with their coach to await the outcome. 

Seems one of the parents who was there to help out passed out and had a seizure.  Quite a frightening occurrence if you have never seen one.  Hey, it’s scary even if you see one every day.  I did some praying in the stands as we watched the volunteers do what they could.  Finally the San Leon Volunteer Fire Department vehicle arrived and everyone breathed a little easier.  They were followed shortly by an EMS team, and the lady was in good hands.  She was able to walk out of the dugout and onto the stretcher with a little assistance.  At that point I made my way over to our dugout to reassure Cailyn a little bit if she needed it.  And I was really glad I did.

She wanted to know first of all what was happening.  Hey, who wouldn’t?  I gave her the Readers’ Digest version – the lady passed out and they were taking her to the doctor. That brought up another reasonable query, “What does it mean when somebody passes out?”  One of her teammates likened it to going to sleep, so I stayed with that approach, but assured her that it wasn’t exactly like sleeping.  Then came question three, “Will she wake up?  Is she going to die?”  I assured her that the  fire department guys were over there, kind of like when Daddy gets a call, so they were going to take care of her until she can get to a doctor.  And I let her know that I had been praying for her, too.  She pondered for a long moment, then said, “Passed out.  That’s what MeeMaw did when she died, isn’t it?”  And there it was.  Bless her heart.  She was taking this way beyond a sick lady in the other dugout.  I agreed that MeeMaw did pass out, but “just because you pass out doesn’t mean you will die.  Sometimes it happens, sometimes the person is just fine.”  By this time they were wheeling the lady to the ambulance and Cailyn could see her.  “Look, DadDad, she’s talking to those people and I can see her sitting up on the cart thing.”  Good news. 

And so the game eventually resumed.  Our team won 4-2, but sadly, Cailyn struck out twice.  She was particularly dejected because she promised her Mom that she would try to get a hit for her.  Too much going on, I think.  We assured her that Mommy just wants her to have fun playing and to do her best.  I think the quick FaceTime call with Daddy helped erase any other thoughts of woe. 

She hadn’t completely forgotten the event this morning, though.  As she was getting dressed for school, we were talking about my grandmother, my Nani.  I said, “I really loved her.  You didn’t know her, but you had a kind of a Nani like that didn’t you?”  She immediately replied, “MeeMaw.”  I said, “And you liked her, didn’t you?”  She finished off the conversation with this gem, “No, we loved her, DadDad.  And we still do.”  Yes, Cailyn, we certainly do.

Mark 6:31 says, “Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ‘Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’”

Father, would you tell my Mom that she has definitely not been forgotten down here.  We still love her.  Amen.