Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Man's Best Friend(s)

This past weekend was a weekend I will never forget.  What started out as a normal weekend will now be a constant reminder just how precious life is and why we should spend as much time with family as we can.

Saturday started off with my wife and I stopping for breakfast before heading to our daycare to do a little playground spring cleaning.  I always enjoy when we go out for breakfast, because it's something we rarely do, and it's a great way to start the day by getting our bellies full.

After we had our morning date and finished our spring cleaning, it was off to my good friend's house to help him install a new pool liner for his above ground pool.  I was looking forward to helping him this day because one of my other good friends was going to be there and when we all three get together, it's pretty much guaranteed that we all are going to have a good time by making fun of each other, laughing together, eating some good food, and of course drinking a few cold ones which usually increases the hilarity which will take place throughout the day.

As the day got closer to night I received a call from my mom, and I immediately had a gut feeling that something was wrong.  As I answered the phone, I already knew what words were going to be coming out of my mom's mouth...

Mom : Jer?
Me : Yeah, what's going on?
Mom : Mamaw passed away
Me : (Silence)

Even though we were expecting this day to happen and even expecting it to happen soon, I immediately felt as if my body had exhausted all of its air, and I had became very limp as if I didn't have the power to lift my head nor did I want to.  The remainder of the day I tried to be strong, not show any negative emotions, but several times I caught myself staring into space thinking of the many great times I enjoyed with such a wonderful person known as my Mamaw!  Being around my good friends helped ease some of the pain I was feeling that night which is just one of the many reasons why I consider them part of my family.

Fast forward to Sunday evening...

As my wife and I were getting prepared for the season finale of Survivor by getting comfortable in our spots on the couch, one of our dogs Bella lethargically walks over to the corner of the couch.  We immediately spring up and give her our undivided attention.  She appeared to have part of a rawhide bone (that I had bought earlier that day as a treat during our big Survivor finale) lodged somewhere restricting her breathing.  She started twitching and fell over on her side.  PANIC immediately sets in and my wife and I are trying everything we can to unblock this clogged airway.  I stuck my fingers so far down her throat that it seemed as if my entire arm would have gone in.  My wife was starting to do CPR procedures on her by pushing on her chest and I followed along by blowing in her mouth.  As her eyes kept looking forward and the convulsing continued all I can hear is my wife say over and over, "come on bella, come on bella", "breath!!!", "please bella, come on"

After several minutes later and the fear of watching our beloved dog suffocate in front of us while we try helplessly to save her life she finally stands on all fours very slowly and starts to breath.  We gave her the biggest hug we could, I then threw away the rest of the rawhide bones, and we never let her leave our site for the rest of the night.

It has been a couple days since the weekend and as I look back at the events, I feel blessed to have known my grandma for as long as I did,  to have spent as much time with her as I did, and to know she is finally not suffering any more in the one place I know she never wanted to spend a day in, a nursing home.  I feel blessed to have such a great wife to spend time with and be there for me through thick and thin.  I feel blessed to have such great friends that no matter what, we always can laugh at and with each other without the fear of hurting each other.

Lastly,  I appreciate and LOVE THE HELL out of my family, whether it be my biological family, my friends, or our dogs.  I will always consider all the above as part of my family, and there is no materialistic possession that will ever fill the place of a family member.

As we all know...we are not promised tomorrow, so please spend as much time as you can with your loved ones while you can!!!

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