Life With Boys

I know many of you are waiting for the details and I’ve been a bit too overwhelmed to sit down and get it done. But now that Mindy, her family and Dad have returned to Utah I have a few minutes to complete the saga. So now, here is the rest of the story …

We called and checked up on Mom at about 10:30 Thursday night. The nurses were encouraged, she was maintaining her blood pressure and things seemed to be looking a little better.

The phone rang at 11:50 p.m.. The hospital told us they could not get her stabilized and we should come over right away. It was in a blur that I went to my Dad to get him up and seemed like forever for us to get out the door — even though only a few minutes had passed. We arrived at the hospital at 12:10 a.m. — an ICU nurse was holding the elevator for us (never a good sign).

My Dad, Mindy and her husband Brian and I gloved up (which seemed even more pointless now) and rushed into the room. We knew.

We put Jimmy Buffett “Margaritaville” on, and told her how much we loved her and that if she need to go, it was OK. That she made such an impact on the world and will be missed forever.

Mindy played her a tape of the kids telling her they loved her and Tyler sang a little song.

About that time, Matt (who was at home with 4 kids) called for reinforcements (Taylor was up and screaming.) Brian headed back to the house.

One minute later we watched the heart monitor count down … 52 …. 36 …. 20 …. 12 …. nothing. Just like that, she was gone.

Dad leaned over and kissed her and said, “Goodnight my darling, I’ll see you in my dreams.” And we all fell apart.

The nurses asked us to leave the room so they could remove all of the apparatus and clean her up. We walked like zombies to the deserted waiting room where we were instantly assaulted by Jay Leno on the TV.

Then we started making the calls. Calls to Matt’s parents to come down, now. Calls to find Sally, Mom’s best friend, who was at the airport and didn’t make it quite in time. Calls to Mary Jo (her sister) and attempts to figure out what hotel Peter Paul (her brother) was staying at.

When we were allowed to go back in she was covered except for her head and I was surprised by how cold she was already. I kissed her goodbye and left the room with her “belongings” which the nurses had quickly gathered and packed up like she was headed to a slumber party, not to heaven.

Not two minutes later, the nurses need to know what funeral home they should call. (Like we had a clue.) I named one, but another nurse recommend another, we said fine.

We had to wait for Matt to come back and get us (Brian took the car) and we stood around, dazed and sobbing and confused. How can something microscopic change my world so completely?

We made it back to my house where at this point Matt’s parents had arrived, Sally and Dave came from the hospital where they got to see my Mom and say goodbye and Morgan was WIDE awake and happy to have such an audience.

The next few days are a blur of people. People coming to lend a shoulder to cry on. Peter Paul left Friday morning. Mary Jo arrived Friday evening. Michelle, Erick and their twins came up from Arkansas on Saturday. Dad’s niece Robyn and her husband Alan arrived with the biggest surprise, my Uncle Bill and my cousins Kathleen and Brad and his wife Serena (sp?) drove up from Alabama. It was a full house.

And now where there once was chaos, is quiet. Too quiet.