This week I was with my Mom. Each month, my job takes me to my home state of Pennsylvania. As it works out quite well, I usually just stay at my Moms while I am there.

This time my Mom had a decent list of things she wanted me to help her with. In addition, there was a larger issue going on with her “wired telecommunications” service provider charging over twice what those services should actually cost. We have been fighting with them on the phone for several months. Thankfully, my brother stepped up and did the “fix it list” before I even arrived. That left just the TV issue for me to resolve. Easier said than done.

I have been under immense stress for a good month and a half or better. The stress of our family’s current situation drags on me/us constantly. Add in normal every day stressors and it is an elixir of pressure of titanic proportions.

Fast forward to the TV story.

Since the service provider some how has a monopoly on the area where my Mom’s house is, and there are time and other constraints that close the door to easy solutions, I came up with the idea to cut cable services and put my Mom on streaming services. I ordered a streaming device. I planned to pick it up myself, when I arrived in the vicinity from an old standby store we frequented when we used to live in the area. Step 1 – planning completed. We called and cancelled cable services but left the internet and got her bill to a reasonable number. Step 2 – take action completed.

I went and picked up the streaming device and then problems started.

Step 3 – take more action. We needed an HDMI cable to start with. This, I was quite aware of. What I forgot about was, the TV was from 1990’s. I knew I needed a converter, so I checked the back of the TV and sure enough, I was correct. We set out to the store to get the converter and cables and every thing else we needed. As we exited the store, I was putting my receipt in my wallet and my Mom suggested I hand her the bag while I did that. We went back to her house to finish the install.

Step 4 – determine next steps As bad luck would have it, the TV is not only from the 90’s, but the early 90’s. Only two RCA jacks instead of 3. So the primary main problem is a lack in jack. And? in addition, the TV, did not have the inputs required to support the streaming device. The mess was getting messier.

Step 5 – HOPE! I knew we needed to scrap my approach and just go buy a new TV. With that, my Mom announces that she can’t feel her finger and it has turned white. There is a black and blue swath on the lower half of her finger and the upper half is ghost white. I of course ask her what did she do to make this happen? Nothing is the response. I agreed, because I was with her the entire time. We quickly theorized that she broke a blood vessel in her finger and was asking the question, do we need to go the ER? With that, my Mom was on the Ipad looking up what to do. Get immediate attention was the answer.

Step 6 – take defensive action. Go to the ER. I am stressed beyond stressed and I need to leave in the morning and my Mom does not have TV to watch. It’s getting late and now instead of getting my Mom set back up on TV services, we are headed to the ER. At this point I was consumed with distress. What do you do when you start to lose it? You phone a friend. As my friend answered the phone, I erupted in emotion. After I did my thing and he calmed me down, My Mom and I headed out to the ER.

Step 7 – start praying! And keep calling your friends for SUPPORT. I sent a text to my good friend Larry. He lives by the hospital and was on his way within minutes of my text. He would meet us there. I just needed the presence of a friend. By the Grace of God there was very light traffic in the ER. We were the only people in the waiting room and we were seen in triage within minutes of sitting down. We were in the main ER in less than 10 minutes of our arrival. I told my friend by text to let me know when he arrived and that as soon as I got my Mom situated in the ER, I would come out to the waiting room and get him.

Step 8 – receive his help. As my Mom and I were sitting in the ER talking, I was watching my phone for a text message from my friend. That’s when my Mom put her hand out with a look suggesting I needed to look to my left to see what was going on. I looked left and there was my friend Larry standing next to me with a big smile on his face. My friend had figured a way out of getting to us by using the Less is More Method. Can I say “Relief Arrived!” It was instant laughter right out of the gate.

Just what the Doctor ordered!

Step 9 – accept His Will in healing no matter the results. As it turns out, by the Grace of God, by the time the doctor arrived my Mom had color back in her finger and the black and blue was almost subside and she could feel her finger with just a bit of weirdness. Through the discussion with the doctor I came to realize the incident that caused all this. As I handed my Mom the bag in the store to put the reciept in my wallet, I recall the weight of the bag, and the awkwardness of the hand off. My mom grabbed the plastic bag by the two handles using only two fingers. One finger for each handle. I interrupted the doctor and my Mom and asked her what hand she used to grab the bag at the store. Sure enough it was that hand. This long story ended in Grace. We were in and out of the ER in less than an hour.

Step 10 – continue on the course. Go back through the steps! New plan. My plan? Me and Larry go get a TV in his car, and my Mom drives herself home. Mom has been doing so well and she is very capable of taking care of herself! And besides, the store was just across the street from the hospital. My friend asked me several times, Are you sure your Mom is ok to drive home by herself? I am most positive in my discernment. If you are a good son or daughter, you always know your Mom! We both leave the hospital parking lot at the same time.

Step 11 – Pray AGAIN! Larry and I get the TV and head for the house. We get home, and we go in and I announce as I walk into the living room, “Merry Christmas Mom! I got you a new TV.’ All the lights are on, but my Mom is no where to be found. I circle the entire house calling out for my Mom and no Mom. My friend suggests I check the garage for her car. I open the door to the garage and no car.

ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME?

My Mom should have been home at least 20 minutes before we arrived. I look at my friend and say, “AND NOW I LOST MY MOM!”

Step 12- Have a Spiritual Awakening! My friend and I discussed theories of what could have happened and where my Mom might be. Very quickly we came up with a plan. My friend would drive out to look for my Mom by back-tracking to the hospital and checking a gas station my Mom frequents. I would stay at the house in case my Mom showed up. Within minutes of my friend leaving, he called me to tell me he passed a car in the opposite direction that matched the description of my Mom’s car. And with that, I heard the garage door open. God has answered. He took care of my Mom. As it turns out, My mom had gone the wrong direction on the highway. It committed her to driving an additional 7 miles in the wrong direction. Then she chose to drive the back-way home. And let the laughter begin! As we all settled into get the new TV and streaming services all back online.

End Story

What a fiasco. Not fun, but FUN to TELL.

May your FUN FRIDAY! be low stress and FULL of JOY! Have a great weekend everyone!