Relax and Write or Write to Relax

It's been almost 3 weeks since I last wrote. So much for trying to do this on a daily basis, or even weekly! Life seems to get in the way of my plans at times, or at least I let it. I can't seem to make myself relax long enough to sit down and put words on piece of paper (or the screen). I do have a good excuse for not writing yesterday though....

After an unrestful night of worry, Marty and I drove 2 1/2 hours yesterday to a hospital in Bloomington, IL to see my stepdad of 30+ years, Marion. He'd been hospitalized the night before. He was dealing with a severe intestinal infection, extreme dehydration, along with complications from diabetes. It was discovered later, that he'd had a minor heart attack during all this too. When we saw Marion, he wasn't doing great by any means, but his kidney function had gone up somewhat; and by the time we left that day, his blood pressure was in the normal range without meds. His heart still pumped too hard due to damage from the heart attack so medication was needed to help with this, but I was thankful for the improvements, even though they were small. I knew also that Marion was in the right place to get the help needed to continue to get better. Thanks to the wonderful care my stepfather was given, and God's help, I felt peace when I left the hospital that evening. I was somewhat confident that Marion would be back home soon, though still needing care and possibly dialysis. We never really know how long we have with anyone, so I felt blessed too to have had the time with Marion yesterday. Though it was a stressful 24 hours, by 8:30 last night, I was back home and ready to relax. Not five minutes after slipping into my comfy pajamas though,  the phone rang. 

It was my older brother, Sonny, who called. He lives 85 miles away. He quickly let me know that he wanted me to hear from him that a man had just put a shotgun in his face (not sure who would have told me otherwise). It'd happened outside a friend's house who had called him for help. My brother went not knowing what kind of help was needed, till Wes jumped into Sonny's car and told him to get him out of there. As he started to leave, a drunk man hit my brother's car with the butt of a shotgun and then put the gun in Sonny's face.  My brother suggested that 'crazy guy' let him drive Wes out of there (it was Wes who this man had an issue with). Curse words spilled out in response, so my brother knew to just step on the gas and leave. Unfortunately, gun shots followed them. At the end of our short 2 minute conversation my brother added, "The police are here and they're being shot at now, but Wes and I are in the house, so we're OK. Just didn't want you to worry. Bye." Geez...I'm glad he didn't want me to worry!!! How was I supposed to relax after that call???

It's a new day now and though my stepfather still has health issues, he's being released from critical care, meaning he's stable and able to move down the hall from ICU. I don't know how my brother was affected emotionally, but he was not hurt physically last night. The crazed man that stuck the gun in Sonny's face is now in jail. Things could have been much worse for Marion and Sonny, but they're both doing OK today. I'm thankful for God's mercies. And with writing about my day yesterday, I feel myself finally relax. Writing is good for me...why do I let life get in the way of it? :-)