Things aren't as they appear...

Early Tuesday morning, August 24, 2010... at 4:00 a.m., I wake up to Ron's alarm going off. I reach over to wake him up, but he's not there. I look in the bathroom - nothing. I look in both boys' bedrooms - they are sound asleep but no sign of their dad. I go downstairs, he's not on the couch, or at the desk. I feel around in the predawn darkness for his cell phone - it's gone... I look in the garage, empty except for my car. I go outside, the driveway is empty, his car is gone... when I come back in and go back upstairs to our bedroom, his wedding ring is on the dresser. At first glance it might seem like a troubled relationship...but things aren't as they appear.

Ron has trouble with his esophagus tightening up if he's really, really hungry and eats too fast. Last night, we were trying to have a nice going-away-to-college dinner with Sarah (who is going to Pepperdine tomorrow), but it's not working. She's tired, Ron's throwing up every couple of bites cuz the first two pieces of meat are lodged and not moving up or down. Sarah leaves at 8:00 p.m. Ron continues to have problems (it's never been this bad before). But just before we go to bed, (after vomiting for the 10th time) he thinks the problem has resolved itself ... I was just about to ask if he wanted to go to Urgent Care, but when he said he thought he was OK. Well, I didn't ask...

So, when I couldn't find him this morning -there was a brief moment of panic and then I figured he probably drove himself to the ER. Why didn't he wake me up? He thought I would be too sleepy from my sleeping medicine the night before and he would be in better shape to drive than I would plus I have to take the kids to school. Still it would have been nice to at least wake me up!

I tried calling the hospital, but had trouble getting through until around 6:00 a.m. when my alarm went off. Sure enough, he was there. They were going to sedate him to remove the two pieces of bar-b-qued rib from his esophagus. I would need to come pick him up because he wouldn't be able to drive. I got there just as they were about to begin...it only took about 30 minutes and then he was awake enough for me to see him. CRAZY!!

But the empty bed, the wedding ring on the dresser, the car gone - things are not as they appear most of the time...