"This has been a test . . ."

Spoiler alert: We passed

Photo by Jake Espedido on Unsplash

My darling husband fell off our front porch on a recent Saturday evening. A tumble down two concrete steps, tush-over-teakettle as Gram says, landing on the concrete. Raised a huge goose egg on the top of his head. (How did he even DO that?)

He felt sick and that goose egg was huge. In my head I heard, Oh my God! Subdural hematoma! ER stat! Obviously the part of me that is not-a-doctor has watched too many TV medical dramas. But Doctor Google’s second opinion confirmed the wisdom of seeking immediate medical attention.

I packed him in the car and headed to the hospital emergency department. Had it been later on a Saturday night, there might have been a crowd, but our timing was great. We were in and out in two hours. Head check, neck check, heart check. No damage done. No brain bleeding, no fractures. Miraculous! (My darling husband is evidently very bouncy.)

We left with the “what to watch for with concussion” advice. I took him home, tucked him in and then, only then, did I relax.

The next morning, after I made sure he’d survived the night, a thought occurred: This has been a test of your emergency management system.

Remember the old days, when the television (or radio) would make that high pitched screech—definitely attention-getting. Then that oh-so-very-serious man would say, “This has been a test of the emergency broadcast system.”

My emergency response system is functioning well. I’m good in a crisis. I credit my ADHD and the decades I’ve lived. It’s the same conditioned response I had when my children cried, when my mother needed help, when darling husband needed surgeries, when he got the cancer diagnosis.

Isn’t this what we do? We rise to the occasion. We meet the need.

We pass the test. And pray we can do it again, next time.

Because we know there will be a next time. It comes with loving and connecting. ////////////

May your day be emergency-free! Thanks for stopping by, reading and commenting. I appreciate you making me feel less alone out here.

BOOK UPDATE: OLD HABITS (#5 in the Mackenzie Prentice series) is in the final stages. I’ll be proofing the ebook shortly. I thought you might enjoy a sneak peak at the cover art. I’ve been doing mixed media/collage art for fifteen years and one of my favorite parts of the indie publishing process is creating my covers.

For this cover, I experimented with cyanotype — the deep blue color comes from exposing the photosensitive solution to sunlight. I used it on watercolor paper and also on the strips of cheesecloth at the top. It’s magical!