In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

Family Friendships

DONALD HALL

A couple years ago, my brother in law, Wayne, came to visit me in the hospital where I had been for over a month waiting for heart surgery. Besides being relatives we are also very good friends. My wife, Betty, who is Wayne’s sister, was also there along with my daughter, Krista. Little did we know that the evening would turn out to be something more than a simple hospital visit.

While we were talking and laughing my phone rang and I answered it to find out that it was Wayne’s daughter-in-law reporting that “Mom” had an accident. She had fallen down the stairs and was in great deal of pain. Wayne is a very emotional person and upon hearing the news he was so upset that he thought it was his 100-year-old mother in law who lives with. When he realized it was actually his wife, Gloria, who had the accident he was so shaken up that we had to get a nurse and a wheelchair for him. He wanted to go home to be with her but we talked him out of it because we learned, through my daughter calling his home, that she was coming in an ambulance to the same hospital where we were. It was going to be a long night.

It’s amazing that one phone call can change a relationship or a view on life. Gloria had broken her arm in five places and was operated on right away. Wayne came back from seeing her and he was much better. We started talking about different things, that we never talked about before. I spoke to him about my problems, together we shared our problems, and we helped each other out by talking. It helped both of us.

When Wayne left we hugged each other and I could see tears in his eyes. There were tears in my eyes too. That was a good sign that we loved each other. I felt better when he left and still feel better. It was a long night, but a good night. We were able to laugh about the situation later on when Gloria teased me about her being special enough to get an operation while I was still waiting. Eventually I did have my heart surgery and today both of us are doing fine.