Everyone Needs Someone

It was an eventful start to December. As November came to a close and my wife and I were turning off the light to go to bed, my daughter came out of her room sniffling with tears and said, “I’m wet”. She recently turned 4 years old and accidents at night are few and far between. A quick one over revealed she hadn’t wet her pants. The “wetness” was on her shirt and arm – she had thrown up. We proceeded to her room to find it was in her bed and on the floor – I will spare the rest of the details but needless to say I called in a reinforcement in my wife, we got her cleaned up, changed the sheets, removed the soiled stuffed animals, and hoped we were on our way….until we weren’t. She had a stomach virus. Four minutes later it happened again and 5 times more over the next 4-5 hours. After round two I pulled a twin mattress from a spare bedroom onto her floor and played the role of bucket holder. In a silver lining, there was some sweetness in her pride when after the 2nd time she consistently got it into the bucket and not anywhere else. She needed me, and as a Dad, I was more than willing to be there for her.

Like many caretakers and parents out there know, when you put yourself on the frontlines of an illness, you hope and pray you don’t get it too, but chances are likely not in your favor. Unfortunately, this was the case for me. A little over three days later my stomach felt off all day, I had my own spell of similar outcomes as my daughter just days before, but my fun didn’t end there. Some additional outcomes led to a trip to the ER. As our daughter was already asleep, my wife had to ask a neighbor if she could come sit at the house while we were gone. Thereafter she was replaced by my sister-in-law. Meanwhile at the hospital the staff took care of me. After almost 5 hours we headed home and I was in a condition to recover over the days to come with medication and rest. I needed my wife and the hospital staff (HUGE thank you), my wife needed our neighbor and her sister.

As I reflected on what to write this month, this series of events was yet another reminder of how everyone needs someone. There is not one human being in this world that can live their life without the support of someone else, especially in trying times. And I don’t necessarily mean a partner, I mean we need each other as human beings to serve one another. If you disagree, just think of all the individuals behind the supply chain of our food, our medical community, our utilities. Think of our first responders.

I am so blessed to have many someone's in my life and to live in this wonderful country with countless someone's that chose to serve others, some they may never met. My hope and goal is that I am doing my part to also be that someone to others.