This week prompts what we’ve lost and what we’ve found. I sort of ignored the first part and decided to focus on a time around 1967 when I saw my father start to drown in the pool of Boston’s Midtown Motor Inn. I ran to him and because of the water’s buoyant quality, was able to get him up. I was ten.

There were two other incidents where I helped my father. First, my son and I were in his car with my mother, and we were coming back from a vacation in the Catskills. We were driving along Rt. 17 South on a dreary, rainy Sunday. Both my son and my mother fell asleep to the rhythmic sound of the rain and the windshield wipers. I was sitting behind my father and in the rearview mirror I could see his eyes closing. I yelled, “Daddy!” to wake him up and I stayed on him like white on rice until we arrived safely at his house.
The other incident took place on a Tuesday, I think, and a wave of intuition maybe came over me. I had a sitter that night and decided instead of what I was going to do, I went to my parents’ house. Good thing I did. My father was incoherent, and my mother was hysterical (normally, she was quite stoic). My father, a diabetic, couldn’t even hold a tissue. I forced my mother to call 911. I knew one of the EMTs from high school and was able to rattle off a list of my father’s meds. I don’t know now why or how I would know that, but I did. Apparently, my father’s blood sugar had dropped too low.
All this made me realize that I mobilize in a crisis when it’s not about me. I also had to question how did I happen to be there at the precise moment when my father needed someone.
What is your lost and found story?
very powerful stories, well told. especially resonated with “when it’s not about me” and the rest of the last paragraph.
you inspire me to do the snapshots too!
much love, M
Martha K.S. Patrick Gümüşlük, Muğla, Turkey
*Gönülden gönüle yol** vardır. *Turkish Proverb From one heart to another there is a path.
Thanks so much, Martha! It’s been a great practice and you’ll be amazed, as I am, at how much content you’ll generate!