Listen To Your Mother and Always Wear Your Seatbelt

*Dear readers, 
I actually began writing this particular post back in June. I somehow wasn't able to finish it until now, the scare being way too fresh then to really relive and think about. It's still pretty fresh but I felt the need to portray some humor during a situation that was far from being funny. Sometimes, that's all we can do to get through the trials that life presents to us. This was one of the hardest and scariest days that I ever lived through.....That being said, I'm grateful for my own and for my families' sense of humor during times of great need for a laugh.

My parents were in a wreck several weeks ago.
But that's not what this particular post is about.
To lesson worried thoughts and suspicion, I will inform you that they are both alive and well (thankfully) and that all of their limbs are working properly. They have some minor cuts, bruises, neck and chest pain but all of the diagnostics came back negative for anything critical.
That being said, I have found my new source for material to write about.
Have you ever been to the ER on a Saturday night?
Holy crap! That's some cheap entertainment! (Cheap, that is if you're not the one being examined and if you actually have health insurance. This particular night, I of course came along for moral support. I had no idea the sights that I would behold during this 5 hour encounter. But I couldn't make this shit up...)
We got there and I had to drop my parents off at the front in order to go find a parking spot. My nerves were so fried at this point so I parked in the nearest parking lot I could find, praying that my car wouldn't get towed and that I wouldn't get mugged during the brief walk back up to the emergency room. I tried to get my barrings because I wanted to be strong for my parents. I refused to let thoughts like "they could have died"creep into my brain.  (Even though this is the first thing my Daddy said to me when I got to the crash site. Subtlety has never been his area of expertise.)  The important part is that I knew deep down that they were OK outside of some mild pain and shock.
They were waiting up at the front desk, checking in and I took this opportunity to non-nonchalantly look around.
There is a reason I work with animals and not people.
Why?
Because people are disgusting.
One poor woman was sitting all by herself in a wheel chair with a towel draped over her face. With any slight movement she made, she would press the towel up firmly to her mouth as if to keep the threatening vomit down.  With each gag, I gagged internally (being the sympathetic vomit-er I am) and I had to peel my eyes away with the mere thought that she had no one with her to comfort her. I felt so badly for her that if there hadn't been the need there to show full support for both of my parents, I would have gone over and offered her a hug....as long as she didn't vomit on me.
Then there was the guy with no underwear, sporting the baggy jeans over what should have been the rim of his boxers. (I actually had not noticed the no underwear part...my Mom pointed that out to me...thanks Mom...). I was more focused on the conversation he was having with his girlfriend. He was going to go outside and smoke with his friend who also happened to be at the emergency room for some sort of fungus creating a life on his ankle.The girlfriend was upset because he was actually just diagnosed with pneumonia. Seriously dude? Is a cigarette really your first priority at this point? (I'm not sure what kind of person you are if you randomly run into one of your closest buds at the emergency room .At least they got to catch up over the probable cancer forming in both of their young worn out bodies.) Perhaps this sounds a bit judge-y...but I've found the filter turns completely off after you've been presented with the reality check that someone you love could have been killed.
I had to sit in the lobby for the majority of the time, waiting while my parents were being examined. Patients were continually called back and I sat and half way watched the movie they had kindly provided. It was a war movie of some sort, one with Matt Damon, and I couldn't help thinking to myself, "is this really the best form of entertainment for inhabitants of an emergency room?" I would think that they would want to have something more calm and peaceful on the t.v. ...like "Sesame Street" or "Mister Rogers" but perhaps they were portraying an "It could always be worse" scenario.
I also couldn't help but wonder why some people were there. I wasn't intentionally being nosy, but I did often find myself creating different scenarios for people coming in and out of the lobby. The poor guy who had a huge paper towel wrapped over his entire left hand, I only assumed cut himself at work while preparing someone's entree. (I made a mental note not to ever eat out again.) Then there was the younger couple of which the wife kept getting up and going to the bathroom, while her husband sat there with his arm wrapped around her. They only spoke in soft whispers with heads down. The scene was all too familiar to me and as much as I tried to mentally send over vibes of support and empathy, I knew nothing anyone could say or do could take away the pain they were surely both feeling.
I finally got called back to sit with my parents while they were waiting for their test results. They were holding up pretty well for the most part, just hungry, tired, aching and frustrated. I would have offered comedy relieve in such an instance but it turned out I didn't have to. The lady behind the curtain was exclaiming how she had already filled up 10 bags in the last couple of days and that Dr. such and such had done her surgery in another county. I could only assume that she was talking about poop and a colonoscopy. Dad confirmed that I was probably right. It wasn't so much the fact that we could hear every word she was saying... I don't want to seem callous because she was obviously in quite a bit of discomfort... It was simply the fact that it seemed anyone who walked by whether it be another Doctor, Nurse or Patient, she would start over from the beginning, telling her whole story over and over again. At 11:30 at night, when you have been there for 3 hours already, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.
Even if it seems a bit cruel...
And especially if it concerns poop. (Let's face it, potty humor is always a winner when lack of sleep is involved.)
In retrospect, it was all quite the experience. I guess we made as much good out of the bad that we could. I guess that's what we all do during moments of crisis. Otherwise we would go insane. I realized, once again, that night how very lucky I am to have the family that I have. My brother and sister-in-law were on their way from Raleigh, making the four hour drive just to make sure that everyone was OK. Life is too short not to appreciate every day.
It's nice to be surrounded by people who remind me of this very fact.