October 5th ~ Fee Fi Foe Fum

I'm cracking up right now as I type the title of this post, because I'm thinking of giving my sister the link to this blog....and she is so going to kick my ass for that title! LOL Keeeeeeeest!

(blurry screen fades to scene in the waiting room of the hospital)

So, two of my 3 brothers, my sister, and I, all arranged to wait with my Dad in the waiting room at the hospital while Mom went in for her Totally Radical surgery.

We're a close family, so this wasn't unusal, and we all knew that Dad was stressed and worried. My other brother would have been there too, but was unable to get out of work for the day.

What IS unusal though, is the height of my family. I'm the shrimp at 5'6", the rest of them, including my sister, all hover around 6'3". Yes...6'3". Well, except for Mom. She's 5'8". I always thought she was 5'10". (I'm measuring her when she gets home from the hosiptal because she may be trying to escape the giants. ) My sister is gorgeous, strikingly so, looks like a model. I must admit, sometimes I feel like I'm left out of the "mile high club".....although...I'd happily join the "other" version of the mile high club if someone could just provide hubby and I with a plane ticket somewhere..... anywhere...oh yessssssss!.....YES!.......oh yesssss!..... but I digress.....

Where was I?

Oh yeah...

Whenever my family goes anywhere as a group, heads turn. "Who are those giants? They look nice, but hide the kids, honey!"

It's probably the same for the Harlem Globe Trotters or NFL players.

I consider myself one of the giants. I may be their dwarfy side kick...but I'm still one of them....so when I refer to the giants.....please include me in your head. Gracias.

So, in the hospital waiting room, we sat in a corner against the back wall. My brothers moved furniture to make it more cozy. No excepting the status quo with this bunch. Giants moving furniture....just imagine. lol This gave us a place to visit, and gave room to the rest of those waiting. But I forgot to mention something...

Besides being giants, we all have rather active (and not above the gutter) senses of humor.....and we all use humor as a defense mechanism against stress.

We were REALLY stressed.

So......um.....we became REALLY funny.

It was sort of like being at the Tonight Show. The giants in the corner were laughing until tears were spewing from their eyes....and the rest of those in the waiting room were looking at their feet, trying not to laugh....but you could see their smiles. Our wait for Mom, including surgery delays etc. was about 3 and a half hours. Some of the others waiting had already been there for longer than that and had many more hours to go in waiting for their loved ones. I think, although perhaps a little obnoxious, I THINK that we giants provided a bit of comic relief.

Admittedly, a few times when my youngest brother stood to tell a story, and used full body language along with his impossible-to-lower-the-volume booming voice, I glanced around nervously thinking, "We're going to get thrown out. We must be bugging the hell out of these people." And one sweet little woman did leave and to go the other very quiet waiting room. However, most people had on those hidden smiles.

Have you ever noticed that when you wait for a long time with a group of strangers, you always want to ask:

"So who are you waiting for and what's wrong with them?"

But you don't......because......well that would be rude.

So the giants provided an alternative distraction.

I must say though, when the surgeon was ready to speak to the family.......we all became instantly sober. We were lead into this tiny little room and told to sit down. My poor Dad's face went whiter that a sheet. The doc asked if we were all family.....and the rest of us went whiter than sheets too. Quicky realizing that an entire tiny room full of giants were about to faint (which, btw, is a family trait ~we're fainters) the oncologist reassured us all that mom was fine and the surgery went really well. The news was wonderful. We all cheered!

Upon exiting the news room, those still in the waiting room looked up with big smiles at us. They must have heard us cheering.

"Good news?" they asked.

"Yes!" we announced in relieved unison. "Starbucks anyone?"