One of "Those Calls"

Yesterday I got one of "those calls." My wife was on her way to the hospital. The scare was that it was a heart attack, which later, thankfully, we found out it wasn't.
Few things can affect us as profoundly as when someone we love is in peril. I was in my office when my cell phone rang with the news. I felt my body go through a series of physical changes as the emotions checked in.
As I stopped a moment after hanging up, I began to assemble a plan of action--resisting the urge to run out to the emergency unprepared.

I made some calls to relatives, bosses (for both my jobs) and cleared my schedule. After things were secured at work, I left for the hospital, armed with a set of directions I printed off of Mapquest.com. When I made my way to the emergency center, I was relieved to find my wife looking pretty good; despite all of the monitor equipment hooked up to her. After she was cleared by the doctor, we were able to leave. As my sense of calm returned, I recalled the feelings I had just experienced.

Throughout my life, I've had many good and bad experiences. Some of those things that hurt the most, I believe, have changed me the most. By and large, I like to think that I've become stronger, wiser and more capable. Without the bad experiences, I would not know how precious the good ones were. It is within those moments of crisis, that we learn most about ourselves--how we react and what we are capable of.

Being married for a little less than two years, I can remember how scary it felt to make the decision to "tie the knot." From my vantage point now, it was the best thing I could have ever done. Yesterday, that realization was reinforced, as I thought briefly about the possibility of losing the person I love the most.

Since my evening was cleared now, I picked up some pork chops on the way home, and made them along with some potatoes while my wife rested. I woke her up to eat, and slipped a homemade banana bread into the oven to bake. She loves banana bread. Today she was feeling much better, and although I'm not a doctor, I'm pretty sure that my banana bread helped. In fact, I think that the recuperative powers of my banana bread may be (almost) legendary!