The Setting…
I had just downed a bottle of RED Gatorade when it hit me. I guess the pain from my kidney stone was so severe it made me vomit. And yes—this post is about vomit. I understand if you need to close this out and find a less grotesque method of encouragement, but I hope you hang in here because I want to tell you about the time I threw-up all over the house and my wife had to help.
The scene was bad—just terrible. I was laying on the couch and jumped up headed to the bathroom when it hit me. The doorway between our living room and dining room was as far as I made it. Pain from the kidney stone became unbearable so when the “episode” ended I took a pain pill and got in a hot bath. In such pain, I couldn’t do anything but let the hot water relax my body. Eventually, I picked up the phone and called my wife who was at school teaching. Unfortunately for her, she was able to answer.
She answers knowing I was home sick, and she hears, “I need help, can you come home. I’m in a lot of pain, and I threw up everywhere and can’t clean it up.”
“Do you need to go the Emergency Room?” she asked. I’d had many stones, so I knew I was doing all that could be done at the moment, and I told her so.
She assured me it would be ok, and she could take care of it after-school. But I urged her she needed to come home—it was bad. And she replied, “It can’t be so bad I have to come home now.”
The Hero…
She ran home at lunch, planning to check on me then head back. But as soon as she walked in to the house, she realized I was right—it was bad. I guess as I made my way to the restroom I tried to cover my mouth. Instead of catching any of the mess, my hand worked a deflector shield. My wife called the school and said she couldn’t come back and then she spent the rest of the evening cleaning the ceiling, walls, door-frame, carpet, tile, tables—basically everything.
It’s impossible to explain how big of a mess that was, but my wife dropped everything to rescue me (and our home). This was before kids, now six years into kids—she has dropped everything and cleaned up lots of messes. The second worst mess came at my hand with a kidney stone, too. I got up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve, dying from a stone. I took some pain medication and got into a hot bath, but failed to turn off the water. It flooded the living room, and soaked all the presents. My mom and wife used blow dryers to dry off each present.
A Pat on the Back…
People like my wife, my mom, and so many others who drop what they are doing and come help—even when its throw-up—amaze me. Many of you reading this are not only not afraid of vomit stories, but you also drop everything and help others. Give yourself a pat on the back. You are a servant. You care. You love others.
I wish I could be more like that, I’m more of a “wait a second” and then I’ll come help person. So, each of you who have already dropped your task to help someone else or who will drop your agenda before the day is up to help someone—Be encouraged. You are a blessing!