John 3:16 – Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America; protect our president and Military!
On January 7, 1996, at about 4:35 p.m., it was something of a wake-up call that enabled me, somehow, to finally overcome my demon habit of smoking. Something that I had tried off and on for 5 years. The playoff game, first in a long while, was played in Dallas as here in Philadelphia we had the blizzard of the century 3′ of snow. There was already 2′ on the ground as I headed out in my words to my wife, “To kick some snow around”!
What was even worse, we had to move from our house two weeks before that Christmas, and thank God my mother, still living in the area but ready to move into a 55-or-older community, decided to put it off until we got situated. You see, we bought our second home and were deeply invested when, two years in, my wife’s heel went through the floorboards as she stepped into the house. We got a Public Adjuster to defend us with the Insurance Company.
The insurance company was called, and over the next year the hole grew from a .5″ by .5″ hole to a 6′ by 6′ hole, now covered with a piece of 3/4″ plywood. In the ensuing year, it was discovered that, somehow, during construction in the mid to late 1920’s, scraps left in a fill area under the porch developed a fungal strain that must have entered the house through a crack in the foundation. To make a long story short, they jerked us around for a year and eventually informed us that they wouldn’t pay any portion of our contract and that we would have to sue them. That is a story for another day!
We ended up out of the house a half a year longer than we were actually in it. We ended up correcting the problem mostly on our own dime, as the insurance money paid barely covered the cost of the witnesses for our defense. So, during this time, living with my mother, God rest her soul, I was in her room with a friend staying over, and I was pregnant with our first grandchild, who is one of the great loves and gifts of our life and turned 30 this week.
While shoveling the snow from my mother’s neighbor’s house, I felt a pain in my shoulder. I stopped, thinking at first I had pulled a muscle. I took one more shovel full before recognizing, from my Red Cross training, that I was having a heart attack. My wife, extremely upset, called 911; my mother just wanted to sit quietly with me, and my daughter and her friend were extremely upset. Our other kids were all but hunkered down at a friend’s house.
I, for what seemed a lifetime but in reality was probably 25-30 minutes, was having a heart attack, concentrating on breathing and in a long talk internally with GOD. Who, I might add, now 30 years after the fact and 8 grandchildren later, thankfully listened, as it was at that time the pain let up enough that I knew I would make it. I hope you don’t wait until your time of need, in the 11th hour, to call on HIM! Save the science, how big and old the earth is, the so-called learned in book knowledge, or other mumbo jumbo. Believe me, He’s there, and He does listen.
What ensued afterward was having the street perpendicular to my mother’s plowed, the Ambulance and EMTs (with that miracle drug, nitroglycerine tablets), and then later a call to have the local fire company dispatch help to trudge me out four houses to my awaiting ride to the hospital.
It was at the hospital that I made good on my promise. I remember it like it was yesterday, as it isn’t something you soon forget. The cardio doctor in the ER was looking at the EKG; my wife, sitting on the other side of the bed, asked if I felt okay. My response was, “I felt pretty good and turned to the doctor to ensure my wife what he was looking at would confirm that. He stated, “He’s still having the tremors of the heart attack, and we’re not out of the woods yet. Well, let me tell you in that moment, I would’ve given Linda Blair in the movie, “The Exorcist”, a run for the money on how fast a head could turn.
My wife started to cry, and I tried to assure her I would be okay. I said, “Nance, when you do get home from this, on the end table I left my pack of cigarettes and lighter, and also three more packs are in the refrigerator.” She said with disdain, “Yeah!” I said, “When you get home from this ordeal, throw them away, as I quit, and added I am sorry for not doing it sooner!
That was 30 years ago, and this past January our grown kids and grandchildren threw us an Anniversary party with over 100 guests, family, friends, and neighbors. I might add that, at the time, we didn’t know some of our loved ones we thought would outlive us had passed. Also, many of the guests who are friends to this day were not part of our lives then! So, always keep your options open, as you never know where life will lead or who you will meet along the way.
What habit or vice did you leave behind to improve your life or health?
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