thoughts | officially adults

"I think this means that we're officially adults now" my sister, Brooke, said "We've had to make a 911 call"

I used to be terrified at the thought of having to handle an emergency.  Not a "we just ran out of printer paper" kind of emergency.  But the medical type.  I mean, how bad is "bad enough" to call 911?  What if it's not really a big deal and you get in trouble for a prank call?  Or worse yet, what if it is really bad? I'd wonder if the little first aid training I'd had would fly out the window when faced with a real, not staged, seizure. 

Yesterday, one of our elderly customers collapsed in the shop.  I was in the office and could hear Brooke chatting with Bob, he's one of our regulars.  In his 70s and mysterious, but really nice and he buys lots of milk.  The I heard her say "Are you okay?  Are you okay?", I could hear the panic in her voice as she called for me to get out here.  I got to the counter just in time to help him fall to the floor.  I was so worried that he had died, but he was still a bit coherent and I could feel his pulse.  I knelt down and held him up while Brooke called 911.  It felt like an eternity as we waited for the paramedics to arrive, I tried to keep him awake and talking about any and everything.  About five minutes later, the paramedics were there and after a few questions they took him to the hospital.  I'm still not sure how he is doing.  The worst thing about emergency situations, is that there is no closure, no call to tell you that everything is okay. 

As I was thinking over all of this last night and this morning, I realized that during the whole time, I wasn't afraid.  One of the things I feared most in life, had happened and God had gone before me and had given me peace during the whole ordeal.  I was so thankful that everything happened the way it did.  I'm not saying that we handled everything perfectly, but I am so thankful that we were able to be right in the middle of everything.  Bob could have been anywhere, but he wasn't, he was in our shop, we were able to get immediate help for him and we were able to pray the instant we knew something was wrong.  I am so thankful.