extended ex-family stuff

early this morning, actually as i was walking out the door, i got a call that something had happened at my "ex-father-in-law's" house...police were there taping off his yard and treating it as a crime scene. as calmly as i could, i dropped the boys off at school and went to his house. oh, but who should be there? ex-husband's white trash girlfriend (wtg). i am the bigger person so I tried to console her and find out what was going on. several officers were there, investigators and an ambulance crew. all we knew was that he was found in his driveway early this morning by a neighbor, unconscious and lying in a puddle of blood. now, he and i have never gotten along. we have had a difference of opinion on things that are acceptable. after talking to the ex- I headed to parkland hospital to try and find out his condition. i arrived at the hospital, nervous and alone. when i asked the information desk about him, they said there was an 'unidentified John Doe' that was transported from waxahachie. she then told me the chaplain would be out to talk to me. i lost it. i really thought i had no tears to shed for this man. there are definitely a lot of past issuses that were never addressed. i realized at that point that i may be identifying his body and tried to figure out the best way to tell his son, my ex-husband, who was on his way to dallas from houston. i was overcome with emotion. i called a friend to come be with me because i was not sure what was ahead. at that point, i realized how short life is. how everything you have could be taken in an instant. i felt like i was in an ER episode. the doctor came in and explained that he had gone into cardiac arrest upon arrival and CPR had to be performed to resusitate him. his body temperature was 70 degrees -- almost 30 degrees less than the average core body temp. they were sending him to SICU (surgical ICU) where they had performed a CAT scan to see if there was any head trauma and evaluating his condition. he was in critical condition. the sweet chaplain stayed with me and walked me up the waiting room. when wtg arrived and i told her the status, she was hysterical. i guess i had my moments in private so again, i tried to console. it was a strange situation. finally jimmy arrived. we got updates from the doctor and felt much better about the outcome. they were trying to stabilize him and slowly raise his body temperature. the update was promising. as of now, it looks like he will pull through although it's too early to know the extent of any damage.

so...............................................................

take time to tell your family and friends that you love them. say it often. mean it. don't wait until it's too late. show and tell them. don't wait for a special day. don't wait for tomorrow.
if your parents are still alive, tell them how much you appreciate all they taught you.
if you are a parent, tell your children, how proud you are of them. if you have a spouse, tell them what it is about them that you love.

So tell them, now, and every chance you get. you never know what the "bigger plan" is