backtracking to where i started to deviate... finishing the story of my life-altering 2010 holiday season....
you know the effect in movies where the actor is on a dolly being pulled through a scene with a head mounted camera giving the illusion of someone moving swiftly but unconnected? no motion to implicate walking, no up and down of the steps... just a gliding forward with an absent gaze... someone following a path they have no control over... caught in their own mind, fully aware that they are moving but unable to stop or change direction? that was me in the moments between closing the truck door and making it through the garage, crossing the walkway over apple street, speeding down the never ending hall to the emergency room desk, and up the elevator to the ICU... i don't know how fast we walked, maybe we ran... i don't know how long it took... but i do remember the elevator doors opening...
the tear soaked faces of Lari and Vicki, Eric's mother and grandmother, shocked me back into full awareness of the severity of the situation... i'll never forget the crushed and defeated expressions on their faces... Lari was barely able to speak... nearly hyperventilating... between the two of them we started to get bits and pieces of the events of the last hour beginning with "they say he won't walk again"... a point that stuck with those two women but never fully registered in my mind... and here's where it's going to start to become a blur... so much happened, so many stories changed, so many people came and went...
honestly, i can only give broad overstrokes at this point... like ive mentioned time and again... my mind doesn't work the way most do... i was already in caretaker mode... ready to help carry sad souls on my shoulders because of my "everything works out in the end" mentality... i could stand there... watching everyone in their greatest moment of despair and never break down myself... not yet at least... it always hits me later when i'm not expecting it...
finally word came that he was moved from the ER to the ICU... his parents were allowed back to see him... visitors limited to immediate family, two at a time... and in one of those mildly stinging step-parent moments i waited impatiently for chuck and lari to come out... and when they did i wished they'd stayed... tired eyes, red and puffy... confusion visible in the lines of their faces...
i had begun calling people and requesting prayers and positive thoughts via facebook... the word was starting to spread and family and friends were beginning to show up
i remember telling my sister she didn't need to come from Columbus... there was nothing she could really do... and it was Black Friday... her busiest day of the year as a manager of a Jack's... but of course she came (love you Britt)
i remember being surprised by Melissa, one of my dearest friends that i don't get to see that often... just a heartwarming reminder that true friends really are there when you need them most
i remember my cousin Missy and her husband John coming to show their support... that meant a lot considering we were newly reconnected from years of distance
i remember Eric's cousin Alex... one of the most outwardly devastated... also a relationship that had gained some distance... but one with so much history and so much love they'll always be connected
i'd like to take a moment and ask you to share what you remember from that morning
(remember, we're trying to earn money to fly Eric to Hawaii as motivation for his recovery... just $1 via Paypayl to jplum1234@gmail.com)
