If you ever need to prove to yourself that time is relative, spend the night in the emergency room. Five or 6 hours there feels like weeks….
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
My husband, Jim, and I spent most of the night
in the emergency room last night with a sick
family member.
It’s so painful to be forced to sit , waiting,
and waiting, and waiting….
while your loved one suffers…
Did that ever bring home to me
how incredibly lucky we are to live
where we live, when and how…
It makes the plight of Haiti even
more grim in contrast.
Yes, we had to wait for 6 + hours
for the doctor, but we were warm, (hot) and safe,
and knew that the doctor would be there eventually….
Earlier in the evening, when we got the call that we were needed, we ran around, grabbing things to take with us.
I have been working on the Knitted Cable and Cord heart bookmarks, so I threw the little bag of them in my purse.
photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright
I never go anywhere without having my
tatting shuttles and thread in my bag,
so I knew that I was good to go with that.
As we sat, quietly supporting and loving
and going into ‘wait mode’, hours passed.
I knitted 2 Heart bookmarks.
The blue one is full of mistakes, because
I was feeling really rattled and it took
awhile with the knitting flowing through my
hands to get myself calmed down.
When I needed breaks, I would pick up
my tatting, and tat dragonflies
[link to pattern ]and flowers to applique onto
woven placemats. I felt like I could have had a wicked meltdown from the stress, but those threads held me together. Thank heavens for the deep comfort knitting and tatting and crochet and weaving can provide. I would be lost without them. Really. Seriously messed up.
As the night passed, people who had been sitting together, coping quietly with their dismay at being in emergency, started opening up to one another.
One young woman was in agony, and we all took her under our wings… 
and it felt like, once again, we were in the right place (however hard and painful a place that is) at the right time.
We have a friend who is almost goddess like in her ability to listen with every molecule of her being. I often think of her when I am in a situation where it is clear that someone needs to be heard. And, last night, a young woman in pain needed love and support, so for a few hours, we were able to do that for her. It helped to get her through a very hard night.
I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life- my family, friends, and that we live in a place where people do get help when they need it, and are safe enough to be able to reach out in small ways to help other people who are also suffering.
We witnessed a beautiful moment of kindness while we waited…. a gorgeous young woman who was waiting, waiting, waiting at the same time as us, jumped up at the same time that I did to help an old woman who was struggling with her coat. To see how solicitous she was of the old woman, gently buttoning her coat, brought tears to my eyes.
People are good. Life is full of unexpected, and sometimes grim and awful times, but we do have ways of holding on, and holding together.
Yes.
And our family member? (who wishes for privacy, so I am deliberately being vague here) didn’t get surgery last night and will need to have surgery, and so we’ll be helping out lots more. That’s what we do for those we love…. and believe me, I’ll have my comfort threads there with me…. oh yes!