It’s Tuesday mid-morning and I am just about recovered from my weekend… where to start? I had NO idea when I agreed to house sit for a few days ( and work at the bookstore in the East Bay during the stay) that the weekend would be so … sureal. I know, an over-used word but still… I’m grasping at lingo to cover it.

Friday was like any ordinary Friday. Judy and I worked the night shift and then stayed up until 2 in the morning chatting with her daughter. MISTAKE! I had NO idea how long of a day Saturday was about to be. I put in my 8 hours … we had an amazing sales day(I did in my 8 hours what we typically do in a full day) and so I was pretty exhausted. I suspect that the only thing motivating me the last hour was the knowledge that by 6 pm I would be showered and in shorts vegging in front of a t.v. in a King-sized bed about to begin a movie marathon. (Iz is such a sweetie… he rented chick flicks!)

The phone rang as I was about to leave and the look on Joe’s face was unnerving. “Hello, this is Ross City Life Support”. I’m sure he said his name… I’m sure he told me the news at least three times (there was a traffic accident)… but all I could hear was “Ross Life Support”. First, let me just say that when someone tells you that seven words can change their lives… they aren’t being melodramatic. Well… maybe they are if they are talking about weight loss schemes or how to get rich methods. But in this case, those words are still ringing in my head…days later. The good news is, those words didn’t change my life. The small child walked away from the event untouched–(Put them in a car seat, PEOPLE!)– chatting away endlessly about “Scott” the paramedic that I just HAD to meet!

Child: “He even gave me a dog, Mom”
Me: “Huh? Oh, really? Wow! That was nice!”
Child: “Yeah, I was like, that’s for me? I get to keep it? Scott said yes and I was like, COOL!”
Me: (in my head… thank God he is ok… sounding like the 5 year old going on 15 that he is)
Child: “His name (the stuffed dog) is Max… which is a very cool name!”
Me: “Yes it is, now, I need to talk to daddy, Ok?”

To the little kid’s credit, despite the “thrilling ride” in the ambulance, he had to be frightened to see his dad strapped to a board. And like a typical mother, once the reality of the situation hit, that no-one was seriously hurt, that the paramedics were being extremely cautious…I was proud that he had the good sense to behave while his dad was immobile. I mean… talk about a golden opportunity to get into trouble!

For those of you who don’t know Northern California Geography… Ross is about 50 miles from where I work in Pleasanton. Which meant that I had to drive back to Marin. At rush hour. Fun… surprisingly…no traffic. I found Jack strapped to the board he came in on an hour later and he was doing as well as can be expected… they finally got him off to exrays and when nothing turned up (as he kept insisting that it wouldn’t!) he was released. We jetted off to the Peet’s for emotional medication (coffee) and to the pharmacy for pain killer…home to pick-up his crunched car which was walking distance from our apartment… and finally back to the East Bay. We got into Dublin at 10 p.m. with movies and meds in hand…only to fall into bed and watch Adult Swim on Cartoon Network until we passed out. IZ from pain medication, me from simple exhaustion. Sigh.. this was only day two!

Well, I will spare you the blow-by-blow details of the remainder of the weekend. Needless to say, it was fairly uneventful in comparison. But those seven little words are still rattleing around in my head. I am thankful that nothing more tragic happened. Iz and I have known each other for half of our lives this year…and we celebrated (I use that word loosely here) our 12th anniversary on Sunday. I know that losing him would have been tragic… but that close to our anniversary would have been unimaginable. And yet… I am deeply grateful that those seven words didn’t HAVE to change my life. They weren’t a wake-up call to remind me how wonderful my mate is… or how cherished my child is… those words didn’t have to be! I’ve known from the on-set that I am blessed beyond measure! But for their safety and continued presence in my life… these are perhaps the best anniversary gifts a girl could ask for.

Oh… and Ross Life Support?… They should really consider changing their name. Talk about nearly giving me a heart attack!