Family reunions and other emergencies...

We’ve been through a couple of rough weeks lately, culminating in a trip to the emergency room of the hospital this past Friday. When we found a parking space I espied a car a couple of places over which looked a lot like my dad’s car. I almost said “hey, there’s Dad’s car, I wonder what he’s doing here…” But I didn’t. I was stressed and the thought passed. We went in and were wondering what we should be doing and where we supposed to go and just generally being stressed. Someone beckoned us over to a computer and I walked right by a white haired man without paying any attention to him. Dear Husband was the one who said “hey, isn’t that your dad?” Huh? Where? My dad? What would he be doing here? And then Dear Husband said “yes, it is your dad. Hi Dad!”

Well, he was right. It was my dad and I was standing right there near him, after having noticed his car in the parking lot and then dismissing it. But, as I said, we were stressed and people aren’t always thinking their best at such times. But for heaven’s sake, you’d think I’d recognize my own dad! This is the second time in about 6 months that I was a few feet away from a relative and didn’t recognize him. The other incidence was when the sonnies and I were at brunch back in August and we were seated at the next table from my brother and couldn’t decide if it was him or not.

I blogged about it. My brother so much resembles his two best friends (who, incidentally, are cousins of each other) that they look like triplets when seen together. I’m always mistaking them for my brother when I see them from a distance and vice versa. They all tend to have the same body language as well, which isn’t all that unusual when you consider that the 3 of them are contra dancers and Morris dancers… But now here I was not recognizing my dad. It’s weird how the males of my family don’t look like themselves at certain times, isn’t it? Well, as I said, I was stressed.

It turns out that Her Sweetness had chest pains which fit the profile for a heart attack, so they hightailed it down to the emergency room to be checked over and Dad was in the reception area tending to the myriad questions and details that they always want to know while Her Sweetness was ensconced within with a doctor and a bunch of machines. We passed right by her when we were on our way to another cubicle further on and waved feebly as we went by. Her eyes got got big when she recognized us and I hoped we didn’t add any ‘peaks’ to her EKG.

We whiled away several worrisome hours and I’ve decided that emergency rooms are where you go to sit on hard little stools only one third the size of your spreading buttocks and incur bad back pain and gain additional gray hair while your blood clots from hours of inactivity and you get a headache from worry and being ignored…

I’m happy to report that later we found out that Her Sweetness was checked out thoroughly and released with instructions and anti-inflammatories and got a diagnosis of ‘costochondritis,’ which is an inflammation between the ribs where they are attached to the sternum, and while painful, is not life threatening nor critical. I must remember to call her tomorrow. Our lives are now even busier and more stressful as we’ve added another daily trip back and forth to the hospital for awhile.

I’m thinking of adding my dad’s and my brother’s pictures to my wallet too. You know, just in case…