Play Mate

Category: Life As I Know It | Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2016 1:12 pm

We ended up at the ER with Cory this past week. He was in a car accident and is thankfully okay.

There was an elderly couple sitting by us in the waiting room. He was in a scooter and she was in a wheel chair. How they actually got to the ER in the first place is still unclear. At one point my phone rang. After I got off the man said, "We finally get all this hi tech stuff and I'm at the end of my life so I won't get to enjoy it."

It was an awkward statement, but he was smiling when he said it so I got up and walked over, "I'm sure you had some good stuff when you were a kid."

He was hard of hearing, made clear by the fact that he was talking really loud. First, he proudly told me that he was 94 years old. Then, he said that they were the first house in his neighborhood to have a radio because his dad was an engineer and figured out how to put one together.

We spoke some more then he asked me, "I bet you never met someone who voted for Roosevelt?"

"No sir, I haven't. Were you in the military?"

Come to find out he's a WWII veteran, infantry division. "The only injury I got in the war, though, was poison oak."

At this point he looked at his wife and said, "I told her that God protected me so I could be here to take care of her."

She smiled at him. I looked around and there were a few other people who had been listening. One woman was shaking her head, also smiling.

At this point we left to the other side of the hospital. When we came back I looked for the elderly couple. He was sitting in his scooter, asleep. She was nowhere to be seen. I hated to leave without saying goodbye, but I didn't want to wake him up.

He opened his eyes and saw us. A big smile came across his face and he greeted us with that booming voice. Then, behind us a nurse came in pushing his wife in the wheel chair. She was wrapped in hospital blankets from head to toe, obviously cold from the A/C. His eyes lit up and he said something that captured my heart. With excitement and love in his voice he yelled out, "Here comes my play mate now."

My daughter-in-law let out a big, "Awww!"

She was wheeled over to him, smiling the whole time. We shook their hands before we left and my wife thanked him for his service. We said our goodbyes and I left the hospital feeling as if I had left some good friends behind. It was definitely a moment in time that I will not soon forget.

Last edited: Sat Jul 23, 2016 1:44 pm

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Frank wrote on Sun Jul 24, 2016 10:32 am:

Sorry to hear about Cory's accident EG but glad to hear he is doing well.

Beautiful story, I could tell from your words that they were very much in love!