Lessons from the Waiting Room

On Monday my dad had major surgery and while we're still unsure of the outcome, we continue to pray for a full complete healing from the Almighty Healer. But while we prayed, we waited. And of that, I've not a big fan...especially in hospitals...but I wasn't alone. There were 7 consistent seat warmers plus more than half a dozen who came and joined our bunch throughout the day. You'd think waiting for someone who's in surgery over 9 hours would be boring...well...you haven't been with this bunch.

In no particular order some things I learned in the waiting room.

-In "fancy" hospitals, there are people that get paid big bucks to make sure you (sometimes annoyingly so) are "fine" and "okay" while you warm their pricey seats. These people also take you on guided tours of the ICU unit when you are bored. They also make sure that they schmooze (even spell check knows that word!) with the right people in your family (eh hem...this would be for my brother)

-Kindness is not niceness.

-Pastors are real people and some of them are really funny. My parents pastor falls under this category. If only I could remember his bald joke! I recall my hubs not laughing as hard as me??

-You can't put a price on friendship.

-Families are units that you are born into. You can't change them and you can't get out of them, but then again, why would you want to? These are YOUR people. Love them for who they are.

-With today's technological advancements, I'd like to put in a request for more wall outlets and bin to checkout extension cords for the day. The number of smart phones and e-Readers almost outnumbered people.

-Hospital staff do not encourage or appreciate you taking the rearrangement of their furniture into your own hands so you can enlarge your circle of people. Nor do they like it when you disorganize their magazine rack.

-It is possible to be "kindly re-directed" out of ICU into the waiting area because of too many visitors. Can I help it that my dad is so popular?

-Calories do not count in waiting rooms.

-Caffeine is a requirement.

-I should take up knitting. We watched (okay stared in awe) as a woman knitted something, in what I'm pretty sure was record time, although, we're not sure what it was. A skirt for a pencil? A baby's hat? A doily for a cup of coffee? It was small, cute and looked functional for whatever purpose it was going to serve. ***After further personal evaluation I can barely eat with chopsticks, so knitting probably isn't something I should pursue***

-There are exercises for DVT. If you are interested, in finding out more, I can certainly give you a name and number of someone who can help. This is a serious issue and can be caused by extended sitting in waiting areas, flying in airplanes or sitting too long in church.

-Lastly, this is dedicated to my brother who got to share National Brother/Sister Day with me, on the actual day. First time we've EVER celebrated the holiday. I feel slightly guilty I didn't buy him a card in the over priced gift shop with great smelling perfume, but there's always next year. We'll just plan on a different venue for the festivities.