Back about 1975 or so my sister, Sandra, wanted to go to a Donny Osmond concert.
My cousin Barbara was able to get tickets to see Donny Osmond live in Atlanta.
The appointed day arrived and we were getting ready to leave for Atlanta.
The plan was that my mother, my sister, my brother and I would go to Atlanta.
My cousin and my sister would go to the concert and my aunt and the rest of us would go shopping.
About two hours before time to leave, my father came back to the store from installing an antenna.
The ladder he was using was part of the way broken, but he used it anyway. When he got back to the store, he was limping.
He told my mother that his knee went out and he had fallen from the second step of the ladder.
This was not unusual because he had a bad knee from years before when he dropped a cash register on it, plus years of football. He went to college on a football scholarship and played in the Air Force.
He said he would be alright. He would just prop up in a recliner there at the store and he would be better soon. He knew that if my mother thought any more was wrong, we would not go to Atlanta and Sandra would miss the concert she had been looking forward to.
Well, after several hours, we left. Just before we left, he had me read the registers and count the money. This was unusual, but I did not think anything about it.
As soon as we were out of sight, he had the employees call the Iva Rescue Squad. Rescue Squad Six was there in a very few minutes. They loaded him in the ambulance and took him to the hospital.
What really happened was that he fell off the roof of the house into a rose bush. The employee with him, Ira “Pee Wee” Cowan, leaned over the edge of the roof and said, “You okay, boss man?”
Papa was not okay. To make matters worse, Papa had brought the ladder down with him. Ira had to climb down off the roof with no ladder and put Papa in the truck.
Papa sat at the store for over two hours in extreme pain because he did not want to disappoint my sister.
At the hospital, they removed over one hundred rose thorns from all parts of his body and determined that he had a major break that was not horizontal across the bone like usually happens. It was actually broken vertically.
The orthopedist explained that this was a more painful break than they normally saw. He told Papa he would need to stay in the hospital for several days. Papa told him, no, he wanted to go home. The doctor only agreed to release Papa if he had someone who could stay with him.
The store had an E.M.T. on staff. We also had a resident goof-ball who was about as goofy as the day is long. Goofball stayed with Papa until we could get home.
The Iva Rescue Squad, always known for going above and beyond the call of duty, took Papa back to the store. They rolled the stretcher to where he could read the registers and collect the money. They took him to the bank to make the drop. Then, they took him back to the house and got him situated in the room.
Our staff E.M.T stayed with Papa for a while and helped him get situated. He gave Goofball some instructions on what to do to help Papa, which Goofball ignored.
That night, my mother called the house to speak with Papa and it is then she found out what happened. The E.M.T. answered the phone. He told my mother what had happened and that everything was taken care of.
We got back home and found Goofball sitting on the bed beside Papa. Goofball was eating a sandwich and watching television. Papa was looped, but still in extreme pain.
My father endured a great deal of pain because he loved my sister and did not want her to be disappointed.
Can you think of a time when someone you know made a personal sacrifice for someone they loved?
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That was so sweet of your Papa to do for your sister.
ReplyDeleteHe was a nice man. He would have done anything for us kids. Well, except maybe hold a snake. Really, he would have done that, too, if necessary.
DeleteThank you. Have a blessed week.