An Agnostic Prays For His Mother

When agnostics pray. I think this is funny.

It’s 4 AM, been a long day, and I can’t sleep. I like coming to this thread and reading all the lovely well-wishes. It gives me strength.

I love your prattling, juan. I think I’ll do likewise. This is all true. I’m not gonna fuckin lie on this thread!

I said the trip took 40 minutes to the hospital. It should have taken just 20. But, I didn’t want to take the Parkway and Route 287 … that’s kind of a roundabout direction … I tried a more straight-line route through the smaller towns. I even had my google maps printout. I soon became helplessly lost. We stopped at a gas station. The attendant had no idea. I asked a patron getting gas … he said he was from Linden, and had no idea. I went to another patron. “Can you tell me how to get to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital?” “No senor”, he said in a very thick Mexican accent. His wife, or girlfriend (they were a young couple) said something to him in Spanish. The guy gets out a smart-phone. For the next five or more minutes he’s typing in addresses, expanding the screen then minimizing it so I can see the overall picture, and explaining TWICE step-by-step how to get there. I shook his hand (probably too vigorously) when I left thanking him for taking the time. His wife says, “I hope every teeng eez OKaay at de hosepeetal” – (sorry, that’s my best Spanish accent writing). I smile warmly at her and also thank her very much. Wonderful people.

I wasn’t there for this. My sister was there when they called 9-1-1. Apparently, when one calls 9-1-1 for an ambulance, the cops also show up (at least in South Plainfield). My sister was hysterical … she is the opposite of me in almost every aspect. She said the cop was “exceptionally nice” … going out of his way to calm her down … pulling her aside and telling her over and over, “your mom needs you to be strong, she’ll be OK … she’ll be OK … she’ll be OK” … until she actually did calm down. He asked her if there was anything at all that he could do to help … make a phone call, anything at all. He even escorted the ambulance through the four miles of town driving to get to Route 287. Yeah, maybe these are the things they are SUPPOSED to do. Nevertheless, we know how that works out. Much as it pains me to say it, not all cops are copfuks. Not in South Plainfield anyway.

My mom’s roommate at the hospital is a black woman, 95 years old. Now, my mom is not necessarily prejudiced, but after the shit we went through in Newark, let’s just say she is not fond of great sections of the black race. But, she throws all that out the window on a case-by-case basis (lol), as I think most of us do. The woman’s mental state, despite her age, is sharp as a tack. As old people are wont to do, they exchange stories about “days long gone by”. My mom is so pleased with her new friend. I’m not sure what her issue is, but when we get there she’s always been asleep. That is … until my dad starts talking. He’s deaf in one ear, and can’t hear out the other. So, when he talks …. He SHOUTS! Can’t help it. We tell him to lower his voice. The response is always the same, “Why. Who’s shouting?”. So, yesterday, he once again wakes her up. The woman’s daughter is there. My sister looks over (it’s a small room) and apologies for my dad’s loud voice. The daughter will hear none of it! In fact, she says, our family is a hoot and she also thinks it’s just great that her mother is alert and awake rather than sleeping all the time. It’s the first time ever in my father’s latter years where somebody actually appreciates his booming shouting. I think he’s in love.

My mom’s nurses … the three I have seen so far … are all Asian, probably Filipino, I think. It appears from casual observation that about 75% of the nursing staff on that floor is non-white. I don’t know if that’s an anomaly, or normal. Regardless, we are all amazed at how kind and gentle they are. They let my mom know EVERY single thing they are doing, why they are doing it …. even when they are reviewing a chart they are letting her know what they are looking it. They go out of their way to try to bring a smile to my mom’s face. Now, a few years ago my dad was in a hospital for 3 days in Somerset, NJ. It was nothing like that whatsoever. The nurses weren’t mean or anything like that … they were professional …but, curt. No “extra mile” stuff there. So, a big Oreo shout out to Robert Wood Johnson Hospital … if you live in the area and need medical help, go there!!

Hey, juan ……. Now THAT’S “prattling”! You’re just an amateur.