Usual to Unusual in Sixty Seconds: Take time to Hug Someone You Love Now!

Today started like any normal morning.

I posted a pantser Friday post. I visited a few blogs. I wrote.

A little later I was breathing hard trying to change clothes, forgoing a shower for a speedy trip to the hospital. I wasn't breathing hard because of any physcial reason, but because I was barely keeping back fear and panic.

My mom was being taken by ambulance from her doctor's office to the hospital with a low heart rate (between 39-44), pain in her chest, and high blood pressure (165). My dad had stopped by my house on his way to pick up his cell phone at his house next door . . .which he forgot again while gathering some clothes for my mom.

In the emergency room my mom seemed in high spirits, happy but a little worried. The EMT thought she might just be fine. The docs and nurses said . . ."we'll see" and started a round of testing.

We sat with her for two hours, and then my girls and I went home to gather her stuff, get our homeschool lessons, get my dad's cell-phone and head back to the hospital. My kids did all their lessons in the emergency room today. I read the Bible out loud to my mom, sent out requests for prayer, and spent a lot of time in conversation with my dad.

The results at the end of the day: my mom gets to stay overnight for continued testing, my kids and I are exhausted in the way that only high stress followed by long hours of waiting can make someone, and my dad and I had a much needed keeping up.

You see, even though my parents live next door and I'm an only child, we kind of take each other for granted. We don't gather for long conversations often because we see each other nearly every day. I don't think I've sat and talked with my Dad for more than fifteen minutes in months. He's the kind of guy who takes some warming up to get into "real" conversation . . .you know, something more involved than a weather report.

So, please hug your loved ones today, spend some time with them, enjoy the moments of goodness. Pray for each other, be kind and encouraging. Love yourself. Know that God loves you and you are His masterpiece, made especially to be you.

Happy Memorial Day early.
I'll be back next Wednesday. I have a lot of people to hug.

And if you don't have anyone to pray for lately (seems like we all have a list actually), please pray for my mom, Kathleen, my friend Susan who was in a head on collision on Monday, a boy named Josh with cystic fibrosis, a man named Jon J. (not my hubby John) who has some unsolved medical issues, my Dad's lab test results, a little girl named Jessica with several health needs . . .and anyone you love. (and maybe anyone you dislike too)