Monday morning alarms can be quite unnerving. My alarm is the sound of birds chirping and when they beckoned me out of bed this morning, I was not quite ready for the little buggers! I start Monday mornings off in the gym with a sweet friend and personal trainer. I got there a bit early and decided to walk a couple of times around the track so that I would be a bit more awake and a bit less grumpy. I put my ear buds in and began a conscious conversation with God that sounded something like this.
“This is a great way to start the week. A little ‘me time.’ For just a short time, I can take a rest from loving other people and love myself well.”
As I’m having this conversation and some slow deep breathing, an older gentleman buzzes past me on the track. I then notice a lady jogging who also passes me. I then find myself occupying the space around me and continue my conversation with God about taking a rest from love.
As I round the corner, the jogging lady up ahead screams a horrific scream and jumps off the ground a foot or so. My first thought was that she had seen a bug or something. I was still quite a way from her, so was confused by what was going on. She took a few more steps and this time when she screamed she fell to the ground. She quickly scooted herself against the wall and began frantically talking to herself. As I approached her I thought she was having some sort of panic attack. I was almost to her on the track when she screamed again and grabbed her heart. She looked straight at me and screamed for me to call the EMS. I started to dial 911 and asked the other gentleman running to alert the folks at the Rec center that something was wrong.
She screamed a couple more times and grabbed her heart as I tried to tell EMS that I thought she was having a heart attack. She finally stopped screaming and was able to tell us that she had an internal pace maker and it was defribulating her heart. The fire department was the first on the scene and was able to check her pulse and be sure that she was stable. The EMS was right behind them with a gurney to take her to the hospital.
The adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was WIDE awake at this point! Once she was safely strapped to the gurney and in the care of the EMS, I continued walking. As I went around the track another lap I started laughing to myself at the irony of the situation that had just unfolded. God’s sense of humor is very sharp indeed! As I am having a conversation with Him about taking a rest from loving others, this woman is having a heart attack just feet from me. As I debriefed the situation in my head with God, He continued the conversation from earlier. In my head the thoughts started forming,
“You can’t take a rest from love, cause this is just who you are! No matter where you go, how you live, who you’re with, where you find yourself, or what you do…You will always be available to love people because THAT IS JUST WHO YOU ARE!”
It was strangely affirming. I thought about an alternative scenario for that poor woman if another person – or no one at all – had been by her during that ordeal. What if they just walked by her and didn’t care enough to get her help? I’m glad to be a loving person, even when I have days I just want to take a rest from love. What a great reminder to start the week off…I love people because that’s just who I am!
lisa g. obrien 