December 19, 2004 | Health is overrated
Ask me how the concert was.
Go on, ask. You know you want to.
Okay, I’ll tell you.
The concert was fine. Mostly. Except that shortly before my piece I noticed my father was conspicuously absent, and by the time we were assembling to start, he wasn’t back.
Then as we sang through it, I watched as several other people came in, fetched other people, and went out again.
Everyone who was “fetched” was a nurse.
Have I mentioned that my dad has some heart problems?
I have no idea what I sang or how it went.
When it was done I tried to look as casual as possible as I bolted out of the sanctuary and down the stairs. I arrived about thirty seconds before the EMTs.
He’s fine. Obviously. (Even I wouldn’t blog about it if something was seriously wrong.) Probably a bug. Anyway, while I was getting ready to sing, he felt a little queasy and decided to get some air. And collapsed in the vestibule, I guess. I don’t really know what all happened, other than that I’m really grateful that we have so many nurses in our congregation. They were taking excellent care of him.
And then we got to spend some quality time together in the ambulance while the EMTs checked him out. I sent a friend to tend to the kids so that my stepmom could come join us, and we all had a grand time in the ambulance. Even when—as the pinnacle of sensitivity I am—the best joke I could manage was, “You could’ve just told me if you didn’t want to hear me sing!”
The head EMT pointed out that they come to our church every single December. And then I recognized him; I said, “Oh YEAH, you’re the guy who came when someone collapsed during our dress rehearsal for this concert LAST year!” And we sort of laughed, except good lord, that just isn’t funny.
Anyway. We’re all home now. Everyone’s in bed. I’m thinking I may just pass on the concert next year….
December 19th, 2004 at 10:54 pm
I’m sorry to hear about your Dad; I thought the person who got sick was the elderly lady who left about the same time, also thought she was the one in the ambulance! Hope he’s feeling better, and btw, you have a gorgeous voice!
December 19th, 2004 at 11:04 pm
I’m so glad your dad is okay. I was worried there for a paragraph or two.
December 19th, 2004 at 11:17 pm
Yeah but was the EMT single?
Sorry. Maybe in poor taste to bring that up now.
Glad dad is ok.
Merry Christmas!
December 19th, 2004 at 11:18 pm
Glad your dad’s ok.
:)
December 19th, 2004 at 11:47 pm
Did your dad laugh at the joke, at least?
December 20th, 2004 at 1:21 am
Whew!!!!
December 20th, 2004 at 9:46 am
Just to pick up where Kym left off, what size slippers would he wear?
We have lots of people at our church who only show up at Christmastime, don’t worry about that…
I’m very glad your dad is okay, that’s some scary stuff but like you said it probably happened at the right place (nurses handy, choir of angels at the ready, etc.) as opposed to while shopping at Wal-Mart or something.
December 20th, 2004 at 10:25 am
I’m very glad everything’s ok with your dad and I hope you all enjoy the holidays together!
December 20th, 2004 at 10:44 am
Hope you’re dad is feeling better now! Have a great Christmas. :)
December 20th, 2004 at 10:48 am
Glad everything is okay… I’ve had a lot of bad experiences at church during Christmas time also. Passed twice, had walking pnuemonia once, and sprained my ankle slipping in the bathroom. Fun fun Christmas fun.
December 20th, 2004 at 1:10 pm
Wow! I’m glad he’s OK.
December 20th, 2004 at 1:10 pm
Phew! I was reading and holding my breath the whole time! Thank goodness he’s okay!