I was having mixed feelings about my birthday this year. Money was REALLY tight, and I was going to have to see my surgeon a couple of weeks after. So I was treating it like any other day. Little did I know, it was going to be far from any other day.
Jim and I had planned on getting our blood work done first thing in the morning, coming home to eat breakfast, going to his CPAP class, then off to mom's to fix her washing machine. Well everything was going as planned up to getting our blood work done.
On our way to the hospital, we had to go around a car that was stranded in the intersection. We went around it and I asked Jim to go back. I had no idea who was in the car or what their situation was, I just knew that I had to help this person out of the street. So we turned around. I got out of the car, Jim pulled up behind it, and I went to the drivers side window. The person that was in the car was a young lady about 18 or so. She was crying while on the phone. I so felt for her. I told her that I was going to push her out of the intersection. I would push her wherever she needed to go. I could have pushed her onto a side street or into the gas station. We decided on the gas station. She asked me what should she do and I told her just put it in neutral and stay off the break.
Now, I want you to picture this....I am 6 feet tall and weigh somewhere around 340 pounds. I'm dressed all in black (black t-shirt and jeans) and I'm getting ready to push this car through an intersection. Jim is following behind me in the van so no one runs over me. And for clarification, the reason Jim is driving and I'm pushing is because Jim has had a heart attack and I have not!!! I also didn't want Jim to push the car with the van because it was a newer car and I didn't want to scratch it up with our van. Anyway, I get pushing and this black gentleman comes running from the gas station yelling at me that he is coming to help. I could have done it by myself, but I was thankful for his help.
While we are pushing this car, the gentleman is asking me what is wrong with her car. I didn't know, only that it wasn't out of gas. She was on the phone to AAA when I told her I would push her car. Now this whole time that we are pushing and talking, we have accelerated to sort of a slow jog. I can hear my belly slap the tops of my thighs with every step. I was dying a little bit every time they hit and made a plop plopping sound. But I stayed strong and continued pushing. She was more important than I was at this point. Well we got to the entrance of the gas stations driveway. You know how when you go from a sidewalk to a parking lot you go from smooth concrete to rough asphalt. Well there was a little bit of a lip and I tripped on it. I went down to my knees the whole time trying to catch my balance. Well it didn't work. I had to fall all the way down on my side in order to get up. I got up quickly and was able to walk to the car. The whole time I was falling I was thinking...oh please don't rip my pants, I only have three pair. Luckily they didn't rip but I could tell my knees were skinned up, and the right knee was bloody.
Anyway I walked over to the car, the black gentleman asked if I was ok and said he was sorry ( it wasn't his fault but it was nice to hear). I asked the girl if she was ok and she said yes but then she got out of the car and thanked me. In fact her words were..oh my god you don't even know me and you helped me. You are so awesome, thank you! She gave me a huge hug. I felt like I was on cloud nine!!! I couldn't have felt better about myself than if I had won a huge reward.
I go back to the van panting like a bad dog. I was so out of breath it wasn't funny. But I was able to do it and follow through. I got in the van calmed down a bit, drank some water, and felt my knees. Yep the right one was bloody it was sticking to my pants, the other knee felt ok, it was just a little tender. Wow all of this and it was barely 7:30am!!!
Jim and I headed over to the hospital to have our lab work done. There was no one there so we were taken in right away! With that out of the way, Jim asked if I wanted to go out to breakfast. I told him no, I will cook breakfast at home. That way we were saving money and I wouldn't have to worry about what I was eating. Ever since my last fill, it's been a challenge to eat in the morning. My esophagus is tight and it's hard to swallow some foods. So we went home.
When we got home, my mom and sister called to wish me a happy birthday with a song. I'm surprised that my answering machine didn't die!! lol. It was pretty bad. I picked up the phone and talked with them for a little while then had to go or we were going to be late for Jim's CPAP class.
We went to a different hospital for his class and of course it didn't start on time. But no worries, we had nothing planned anyway. The lady and gentleman that were running the class said that if I wanted to sit in on the class that it would be ok. I'm glad I did because it was a ton more informative than my class ever was!!
Finally our duties are almost over. Now all we have to do is go out to moms to fix her washing machine. She had gotten some clothes stuck under the agitator and couldn't get them out. We got out to mom's and I fixed the washer. No problem, she just wasn't strong enough to pull the agitator up. Then she takes me into the kitchen and bless her heart, she and my sister had made me a cake and a birthday card. We sat around a little bit and had some cake. We talked for about an hour then it was time to go. Mom had given me $40 to do whatever with. It was supposed to go for a haircut, but it ended up going towards Jim and I going out to lunch at Golden Corral.
The day's events ended around 3pm. We finally got home and both Jim and I crashed. When I woke up, I got on the computer to check my e-mail. In my e-mail box was 209 birthday wishes!!! Then a little later on, I got a phone call from a friend I haven't seen in ages wishing me a happy birthday. Wow!
I had a complete day. So much for a hum drum day. Everyone made my day fantastic in some little way. It really gave me a reason to be thankful. I had a good day!!!
