A reality check

I’ll bet just like me you have someone in your life who you can’t wait to call when good or exciting things happen as well as someone who you count on when things aren’t so great. They offer you an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on or shake a pair of pom poms and cheer the loudest for the various events you share. That person for me is one of my aunts. No matter what, I know she’s there for me and although I might not express it enough, I appreciate it more than I could ever put into words. So like with so many other times, I attempted to reach her earlier in the week. First, I sent her a text message on her phone. I was playing with a silly new app on my iPad and was hoping she would receive the message and call me later in the day when she left work. I didn’t get a reply, but I didn’t think much of it since I hadn’t used this app before and well, let’s just say, there have been times when her phone messaging system hasn’t been the most reliable with getting messages to her. Later that evening I decided to call her house, but I got the answering machine so I left a message. I didn’t get a return phone call. Suddenly I thought she and my uncle may have gone camping as they often enjoy in the summer months, but it was still only Thursday evening and they usually leave on Friday if they camp. On one last ditch effort I decided to send her an email, knowing she checks that pretty regularly and I would definitely hear back the next morning. No response. Something in my gut began to feel not quite right. It was just this sinking feeling that something might be wrong. My grandmother lives in the same town and she’s 82 years old so I started thinking that something might have happened to her and nobody was calling because they didn’t want to upset me. Not long after those thoughts enter my mind, know what hits my email inbox? A forwarded joke from my grandmother. Phew. She’s fine! Still though, why wasn’t I hearing from my aunt? She’s always so good about calling me back and since I had been so thorough with my attempts to reach her, I was really feeling like something wasn’t quite right. So I immediately emailed my Nana to ask if my aunt and uncle had gone out of town because that would explain why I hadn’t heard back from her. Apparently, my grandmother is quite speedy for 82 because I swear she must have clicked the send button and ran from her computer screen because my email was left with no response for several hours. Finally, I decided to call my grandmother and ask if she knew what was going on. She said my aunt’s name and my uncle’s name and in between something about the hospital and an overnight stay. I don’t recall all of it because it was like she was talking in slow motion. It couldn’t be right. My aunt, the pillar of strength and support for myself and so many others, had been rushed to the hospital and poked and prodded with test after test because something seemed very wrong. All of the reasons I needed to talk with her suddenly seemed so trivial and selfish. A gut check to say the least. None of it mattered, though. All I cared about at that moment was knowing that she was going to be okay, that whatever happened was a one-time event and that she would be home and ready for a batch of my whoopie pies in no time.

Without going into too much detail about what happened medically because that’s her personal story, not mine, I’m pleased to say she is home and recovering and if I didn’t live two hours away, I’d have already delivered at least one batch of whoopie pies to her by now. More than anything this made me realize just how much we can take things and people for granted. I know I take it for granted that I can call her and that she will always call me back, but that one day that she didn’t? It was scary and awful and I’d prefer it not to happen again. To make up for feeling so selfish and ungrateful, I’ve called her nearly every day since she returned home from the hospital to see how she’s doing and wouldn’t you know, being the absolutely most wonderful and caring person that is, she’s managed to ask me how I’m doing and how things are going in my life.

Comments

  1. Thank you! That was very sweet!! You are as special to me as I am to you!!! (I do agree with you that I wished you lived closer so you could bring me whoopie pies!):)

    • Here’s where writing about people you love gets embarassing……when they read your blog. And don’t you worry, I’ll make you some whoopie pies very soon!!

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