4 posts tagged “things that suck”

It's an odd feeling to anxiously check one's e-mail, hoping that a message came through while hoping that the message never comes.  Scott is not doing well.  On Thursday night I received an e-mail from Sondra that indicated that Scott was expected to pass through that night or possibly the next day.  Ever since then I have been checking my e-mail obsessively.  My inbox barely has a chance to collect more than one e-mail before I have checked it, anticipating that I will get "the" news from Sondra.  Sondra did send out an e-mail around noon today that stated that Scott is still holding on, but barely.  His breathing has gotten even slower, his pulse is low, he is nearly unresponsive.  I don't want his body to feel pain, but I don't want him to go.  I don't want to hear the news that Scott has passed, but I don't want to not know when it happens.  The only thing I can do is continue to pray for him and his family.

My grandparents' house got put up for sale today.  I realize it's just a house, but my heart still hurts.  Badly.

Today's list: things that disturb me.

• The Pat O'Brien billboard on route 13 (right across from where I work)
  
• Bitches in minivans
  
• Telephone calls/gossip at work about my shoe choices (though apparently my shoes were "so cute!" today)
  
• The customer I interviewed today at work who said she needed Medicaid for "a really bad yeast infection."
  
• People are still sharing dairy and nothing seems to stop them
  
• The song "People are still having sex" (not that I've heard it in years, but I just reminded myself of it)
  
• People who bitch me out, only to follow up with some variation of "Have a blessed day."
  
• Non-organic milk

I've always been scared that it would happen. Once before, I thought it had happened. My sister was driving home and she called me from her cell phone. We were talking about nothing important, per our usual, when all of a sudden she let out a scream. My heart and my thoughts started racing and I kept yelling my sister's name, hoping she'd get back on the phone and tell me she was okay. All of a sudden, the phone conversation cut off and I sat there looking at my phone, completely scared and confused. I kept trying to call my sister back and find out what had happened and if she was okay. Finally, many minutes later, I received a return phone call from Ellen explaining that she had set her hot coffee on her dashboard when she stopped at a red light. When she started to accelerate when the light turned back to green, she forgot about the coffee and it came flying back at her and burned her lap and got all over her car. The screams were a result of a coffee spill- not a car accident.

Well, today it happened. Tara calls me every morning between 8-8:15. It was around 8:15 this morning when she got ahold of me because I was in another worker's office eating breakfast (my coworker brought me a biscuit from Arby's... how nice is that?). She first left me a rendition of Baby Got Back on my voicemail, then called me back and got ahold of me. We were talking about little stuff, as we do every morning. All of a sudden I hear Tara scream. Same feelings as previously mentioned, but I knew exactly what I had heard: Tara was in an accident. It couldn't have been more than 60 seconds after I hear Tara scream that I hear sirens. The sirens were so loud through the phone, I couldn't really make out what was going on with Tara. I hear someone ask her if she is okay and I hear her reply that she's fine and she just wants to get out of the car. I stay on the phone as long as I can. Other than the scream and the sirens, the phone was eerily quiet. I freak out and go worse case scenario. I go over to my supervisor and I tell her that I think my friend just got in an accident while she was on the phone with me. My supervisor asks me if I know where the accident is and if I want to leave. I explain to her that Tara is in DC, somewhere. I go back to my phone and try to call Tara a few times. No answer. The only other thing I know to do is call her boyfriend. Since I was thinking worse case scenario, I didn't know if she would be in a condition to be able to contact him. So I left a message for him to call me back at work. It was such a helpless feeling - to know that a loved one is in a potentially terrible situation and I know about it and can do absolutely nothing to correct it or help out. Eventually, I do get ahold of Tara and she tells me she's been in an accident and she'll call me back later. She got checked out at the hospital, and fortunately, she was fine. Her car and the other guy's car might be a different story.

PS - For those who might blame this story on cell phone usage, Tara was using a bluetooth headset during this situation. Oh, and for those of you who might know her insurance company, she wasn't on the phone with me :)