December 18 – “A flutter in my gutter”

It was a very early morning, even for me.  I got up at 4:15 to get to the hospital in time to pray with a young man having a pretty serious surgery on his shoulder.  He is an aspiring electrician, so that shoulder is something he will definitely need use of.  The surgery was scheduled to take somewhere between four and five hours.  The he has to be in a sling for 16 weeks.  That’s a hard pill to swallow in the best of circumstances, but when you are young and convinced you are at least somewhat invulnerable, it can seem like cruel and unusual punishment.  I prayed with Jason and his Mom, and later his Dad arrived as well.  And not long after that, Dad and I were summarily dismissed per hospital protocol.  I did hang out with Dad for a long time after that near the hospital’s main entrance.  The surgery did go well, by the way.  Now the really hard part begins … keeping the arm in the sling while it heals.  Hang in there, Jason.  And you, too Mom and Dad.

 

I got back home around 6 or 6:30.  Still not Chris’ usual wake-up time.  So I tried to be as quiet as possible.  I opened the front door quietly.  Or so I thought.  I didn’t turn on  light, again because I didn’t want to wake Chris.  I was easing over to close our bedroom door so I could turn on some lights.  I slowly reached out to grab the doorknob when … what to my wondering ears should appear, but a shriek from my love with the sound of great fear.  And truth be told … that scream may or may not have … er … let’s just say, stirred some emotional response from me as well.  No, I didn’t scream like a girl, but there was most assuredly a bit of a flutter in my gutter.  I quickly reached over and turned on the light.  There she stood, not two feet from me, phone clutched in one hand, and both hands clutched to her chest.  Not the image I had hoped to see. 

 

See, she had heard the front door open, but when no lights ensued, she bravely rose from the bed, trusty weapon in hand (the phone), to investigate.  The startle at the bedroom door did cause a little racing of the heart, I imagine.  Hey, as Josh said when he heard the story, “I hear Dad was trying to give you a jump start on your cardiac rehab.”  Yup.  That was it, for sure.  She recovered quickly, though.  Fast enough to fire out a minimalistic scolding: “Don’t you ever do that again.” 

 

As it turned out, all worked out for the best for Chris.  She was up anyway, so the extra time made it possible for her to have a leisurely breakfast, take a shower, and head over to her actual cardiac rehab with no need for hurry or fret.  I’m sure she really appreciated the whole scenario … in the end.

 

She was gone for only about 40 minutes or so.  The first one is pretty easy stuff, and she only got winded a few times.  As soon as she got home, we hurried over to pick up the truck.  That part in the window had rusted to nothingness.  Dennis said once again, the truck had been “Galvestonized.”  He was able to save the glass, but that was still a big financial hit.  But enough about that.  We stopped at Whataburger for some on-the-road lunch, and we were off, a little before noon.  Waco – and our big grandkid basketball weekend – here we come.

 

Psalms 32:8 says, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”

 

Father, thank you for the successful surgery for Jason.  Now please be with him through the long healing process he now faces. And be with Jim and Laura as well, as they care for him.  Amen.