The Family Affair Preview

Yesterday, a nurse on the phone had asked Shawn if he had a ride home after the surgery. "Are you kidding me?" I laughed. "We'll have coolers of soda, hot dogs going on the grill...."

"Yeah, I didn't want to tell her that," Shawn said.
Every time someone in our family is in the hospital, the EVERYONE shows up. I'm not sure why, but it's always been that way. I'm surprised we don't show up for simple blood work, you know, for moral support.

Shawn's brother is married to my sister so it's a genuine family affair without the incest. When we all get together, we really get together. We've all been fighting--well, non-speaking, really since May. I had jokingly hoped someone would end up in the hospital to get us all talking again.

What? Don't look at me like that! It's worked before! And it broke the ice between Shawn and his mother. Sure there's been turmoil, and he's been treated badly by his family, but where do you think the Jolly Green Giant Crutches came from? They must have belonged to one of his brothers. Shawn's mom had brought them over, little was said. But hey, there was contact.

Now that I think about it, maybe my nervousness hasn't been about the surgery, but rather our family being in the same waiting room. Mom thinks the world of Shawn and she's off on Tuesdays. Shawn's Mom will be there. And Dad used it as an excuse to take a day off since he worked so many days straight. Shawn's eldest brother...and me. There will be people who don't think highly of me for things were said in May of me and Shawn that simply are not true. There will be people I don't want to see because I've slowly slid into a bitterness of how Shawn is treated on a regular basis, no matter what he does for these people.

This isn't about me, or them. If everybody starts getting nuts on me, I'm just walking away. Maybe I'll have security come in and just haul off everyone. Then I'll join Shawn in Recovery and take a much deserved nap.
Me, signaling the anisthesiologist: "Yo! Little help here! You got the good stuff; help me escape these people! What? Like you don't a nutzo family too?"