On A Personal Note:
As I am sitting in our beautiful historic store on East Main, I have a number of thoughts and happenings to tell you about! Why do I have this time to relate these things? Well, it is Wednesday afternoon in a village that still pauses on this mid-week day to catch its breath, sigh, prepare for the evening gatherings, and reflect on all the blessings that surround it. That is really good for the spirit, does not do too much for the bottom line, but hey, you cannot have everything, and what it offers probably out weights most other "things".
That brings up a good question...at least in this ol' brain of mine. How do you know when to take that breath, or when to allow yourself a moment to simply sigh and enjoy where you are? How do you get yourself to let go of something you really enjoy to see if you might enjoy something else more, or at least as much?
Jude and I have been blessed in so many ways. We have a family, our entire family, that we love and love being with whenever we can. We have always been surrounded by good friends wherever we have lived. We have always been surrounded by far reaching prayers when we needed them...even when we did not know we needed them!
Yes, we have had times where we were hurt, or we ended up in the ER with needs that the medical profession had to take care of with their expertise. Matter of fact, those were some of the times when we were surrounded with prayers of healing.
An experience this ol' Coffeeman had during one of these "visits," really got my attention. You see, I had a similar experience shortly before this during an alpaca show in Virginia...it was referred to then as persistently, persistent AFIB...or an irregular heartbeat that will not regain its proper beat pattern without intervention.
I had hoped that event would be a unique and solitary happening. Then that fall, the morning of The Royal Alpaca Challenge, it happened again. Another ride with EMTs, another ER, and hopefully (I thought), another quick care situation. Well, when I arrived at the ER, I was rushed into one of THE primary care rooms...I was quizzed on medications, etc., and prepared for action...or at least participation in a med team's action. After getting an IV, I lay quietly hoping beyond hope that the old ticker would start ticking like it should.
Jude and our Minister, Pastor Mac, had arrived, and while I knew they were there, they were not allowed in to my space. Nurses were moving all over the place, taking vitals, hooking me up to all kinds of machines, and one was given the task of putting whatever the Doctor said to put into my vein. Well, she began injecting something, when all of a sudden another nurse yells, "What are you doing?" That alone got my attention, but when the yelling nurse grabbed the IV bag and started squeezing it, I became fully engaged! :o)
You see my blood pressure had almost bottomed out because of whatever was now going through my body. You know a strange calmness had come over me, and I could not help but feel I needed to share that calmness with this frazzled nurse at my head, so I looked up at her and said, "Unless I am wrong, this does not look too good, huh?" If looks could do harm...well, it is good the Lord gives trauma nurses a special sense on how to care for their patients! Now this strange calmness that engulfed me had to come from the Lord's presence with me there in the ER, a presence that took place because of many, many prayers being offered on my behalf.
As it turned out, I ended up getting the full shock treatment (if you want details on this I will share it with you privately) and placed in the cardiac care unit for one night of observation. While there, I was started on a new med for the condition. Wish I could say that was the end of that...but for now it is the end of this chapter.
I relay this info because since the times I found myself having these exciting events, something has changed...Jude and I look at each day differently. Matter of fact, we have begun to look at something we never looked at before...limitations. I really, really hate this because like one of my heroes, I really want to live every day until I die...not pass through the days so caught up in an ending that we miss the passage and the joy of each and every day. Do not get me wrong, there are many things left to be done, and I have the perfect partner to do these things with...we just have to figure out the right time, place, and events.
That is yet to come, Hmmmm, maybe we need to sit down with a good mug of The Alpaca Bean Coffee and dream a bit...don't you know?
Until later.......
Peace,
The Coffeeman
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