When the Phone Rings - you'd better have a tough chicken!

Nothing makes your heart skip a beat like the phone ringing at 1:30AM. Nothing good ever comes from that call. No one ever thinks to call you in the middle of the night to let you know you just got a promotion, or won a new car, or were selected to be the next family featured on Super Nanny (my secret dream) - that just doesn't happen. When the phone rings at that hour, dread fills the room like smoke in a bar (a bar before the smoking ban).

This morning, the call was that my cousin was being rushed to the University Medical Center with an aneurysm. They had wanted to life-flight her in, but the storms forced them to take her via ambulance 3 hours to Omaha.

J13 (as I will call her) is 2 weeks younger than I am - she just turned 30! She is the mother of 2 wonderful children and a friend to anyone who has ever crossed her path. We grew up together and were extremely close most of our childhood years (and beyond). It is frightening that this could happen to her - someone I know and love. As the hours wear on, fright is replaced with assurance.

If it was impossible to get through this, J13 would spit in the face of impossible and do it anyway! She is one of the most athletic women I have ever known and tough as nails. She was built to play sports, she was built to survive! J13 is one tough mutha! I'm not sure what side of the family that trait comes from, but I hope it's the side we share! (I know she doesn't look real tough in a chicken costume, but for 4 or 5 years old, a chicken can be pretty tough - at least tougher than her Glenda the Good-Witch-Ballerina sister!)

Good news is that she is talking and there does not seem to be any neurological problems. We'll see what the news is later this morning, I'm sure the big guy is on her side!

Incidences like this make me realize it was a good decision to move back to Omaha from Michigan to be close to family. You just want to grab them, hold them and keep them safe. At the very least, you just need them there.

Next time the phone rings at some ungodly hour I know my heart will jump into my throat (as I think of J13 dressed as a chicken), but I hope to be able laugh when a British woman on the other end tells me that I've been "very very naughty!"