April's Fool

It was 14 years ago today. There I sat chatting with my daughter-in-law on the phone. I had exhausted the cordless handset and had to switch to the corded one. I was waiting for He Who was asleep to get up and come downstairs. We had a hockey game to go to. My grandson/son Dan was playing Spring Hockey to hone his skills and had a game that afternoon.

I was all set with the hockey gear all packed up in his bag. At that age (10), the mom does a lot of washing and packing up of gear. Not to mention shopping for new skates as the foot seems to jump a size every month, then hauling skates in to be sharpened, etc. I was keeping an eye on the time, so as not to be late.

I was positioned in the kitchen so that I could see the stairs leading up to our bedrooms and I looked up as He Who was now awake stood at the top of the stairs looking at me. He said, "Call 911, I am having a heart attack." He was quite calm and I told him that I knew it was April 1st and I was not falling for his joke. "I am not kidding." he said and I looked closer. His face was gray. He said he was going to get an aspirin and get dressed.

My daughter-in-law could hear all this and said she would send Jeff (our son) to the hospital we would be going to. I hung up and dialed 911. I gave them my address and told them my husband was having chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack. "Is he breathing?" I could not see him, as he had gone back upstairs to get the aspirin and dress. I relayed this and she told me to stay on the line and go see for myself. I dumbly told her that I was on a corded phone, then said, "Dan, go see if Dad is breathing!"

I was not thinking clearly, obviously. The ambulance arrived, followed by a fire engine and two police cars, filling our cul-de-sac with all the vehicles. So many people came in our house it looked like we having a huge party. One rather large woman with a red face grabbed me by my shoulders and shouted into my face, "Calm down!!" I have never understood that part. My husband was sitting on the sofa as they checked his vital signs and I was merely standing in the doorway of my kitchen watching and staying out of the way. He was in pain, but not in obvious distress. I think of her from time to time and wish I had told her that she needed some breath mints .....

He did have a heart attack and had some stents placed in his heart. We don't do April Fools anymore. He Whose heart I love does not find April Fools jokes funny. Neither do I.