It Might Be Too Late.

Post 251 - - - - - Saturday, 7th July, 2007.

Hello Everyone ~~ I hope your weekend is going well for you
or is about to. Cold and wet here again today - thank goodness
for the rain and some is going into the catchment areas. We
have had close to 4 inches in the first week of July.

I made quite a few nice meals for next week, ready for Bec's
visit. Cooked a leg of lamb with all the trimmings, and the meals
look nice and should taste good.
Blogger has decided no photos tonight, which is disappointing.
So I guess he will also choose the colors I use.

Tonight's story is called "It Might Be Too Late. " Once again
the Author is Unknown. Enjoy !!

The hospital was unusually quiet that bleak January evening,
quiet and still, like the air before a storm. I stood in the nurse's
station on the seventh floor and glanced at the clock.

It was 9 PM. I threw a stethoscope around my neck and headed
for room 712, last room on the hall. Room 712 had a new patient
Mr. Williams. A man all alone. A man strangely silent about his family.

As I entered the room, Mr. Williams looked upeagerly, but dropped
his eyes when he saw it was only me, his nurse. I pressed the
stethoscope over his chest and listened. Strong, slow even beating.
Just what I wanted to hear. There seemed little indication he had
suffered a slight heart attack a few hours earlier.

He looked up from his starched white bed. "Nurse, would you.." He
hesitated, tears filling his eyes. Once before he had started to ask me
a question, but changed his mind. I touched his hand waiting. He
brushed a tear away. "Would you call my daughter ? Tell her I've had
a slight heart attack. You see, I live alone and she is the only family
I have."

His respiration suddenly speeded up. I turned his nasal oxygen up to
eight litres a minute. "Of course I'll call her," I said, studying his face.
He gripped the sheets and pulled himself forward, his face tense with
urgency. "Will you call her right away - as soon as you can ?"

He was breathing fast - too fast. "I'll call her the very first thing,"I said,
patting his shoulder. I flipped off the light. He closed his eyes, such
young blue eyes in his 50 year old face. Room 712 was dark except for
a faint night light under the sink. Oxygen gurgled in the green tubes
above his bed. Reluctant to leave, I moved through the shadowy
silence to the window. The panes were cold. Below a foggy mist
curled through the hospital parking lot.

"Nurse," he called, "could you get me a pencil and paper ?" I dug a
yellow paper and pen from my pocket and set it on the bedside table.
I walked back to the nurse's station and sat in a squeaky swivel chair
by the phone. Mr. William's daughter was listed on his chart as the
next of kin. I got her number from Information and I dialed.

Her soft voice answered, "Janie, this is Sue Kidd, a registered nurse
at the hospital. I'm calling about your father. He was admitted
tonight with a slight heart attack and ," "No," she screamed into
the phone, startling me. "He's not dying is he ?"

"His condition is stable at the moment," I said trying to sound convincing.
Silence. I bit my lip. "You must not let him die !" she said. Her voice was
so utterly compelling that my hand trembled on the phone. "He is getting
the very best care."

"But you don't understand, " she pleaded. "My daddy and I haven't spoken.
On my 21st birthday, we had a fight over my boyfriend. I ran out of the
house, _ and I haven't been back. All these months, I've wanted to go to
him for forgiveness. The last thing I said to him was, "I hate you."

Her voice cracked and I heard her heave great agonizing sobs. I sat,
listening, tears burning my eyes. A father and a daughter, so lost to each
other. Then I was thinking of my own father, many miles away. It has
been so long since I had said, "I love you."

As Janie struggled to control her tears, I breathed a prayer. "Please God,
let this daughter find forgiveness." "I'm coming. Now. I'll be there
in 30 minutes," she said.

Click. She had hung up. I tried to busy myself with a stack of charts on
the desk. I couldn't concentrate. I knew I had to get back to Room 712.

I hurried down the hall nearly in a run. I opened the door. Mr Williams
lay unmoving. I reached for his pulse. There was none. "Code 99,
Room 712, Stat." The alert was shooting through the hospital within
seconds after I called the switchboard through the intercom by the bed.
Mr. Williams had a cardiac arrest. With lightning speed I leveled the bed
and bent over his mouth, breathing air into his lungs , then positioned
my hands over his chest and compressed. "He could not die ! "Oh God,"
I prayed. :His daughter is coming. Don't let it end this way."

The doors burst open. Doctors and nurses poured into the room pushing
emergency equipment. They proceeded to try to revive him. Nothing.
"Stand back," said a doctor, as he placed the paddles on Mr.William's
chest. Over and over we tried, But nothing. No response. He was dead.

How could this happen? I stood by his bed stunned. How could I face
his daughter? When I left the room, I saw her. A doctor who had been
inside Room 712, told her, her father was gone. Such pathetic hurt.

I took her hand and led her to the nurses' lounge. :Janie, I'm so sorry,
I said, it was pitifully inadequate. She said, " I never hated him, I loved
him." Suddenly, she turned towards me and said, "I want to see him."

We walked slowly down the corridor to Room 712, huddled together.
She pushed the door open and we moved towards the bed. Janie buried
her face into the sheets. I tried not to look at his sad, sad goodbye.

I backed towards the bedside table. My hand fell upon a scrap of
yellow paper. I picked it up and read :

My dearest Janie, I forgive you. I pray that you will forgive me also.
I know that you love me. I love you too, Daddy.

The note was shaking in my hands as I thrust it towards Janie. She
read it once. Then twice. Her tormented face grew radiant. Peace
began to glisten in er eyes. She hugged the note to her breast.

"Thank You God," I whispered. "Thank You God, that relationships
sometimes so fragile van be mended. But there is not a moment
to spare. I crept to the phone. I would call my father !!
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We need some jokes after that long sad story. Two more from John.

A man is getting into the shower just as his wife is finishing up her
shower, when the doorbell rings. The wife quickly wraps herself in
a towel and runs downstairs. When she opens the door, there stands
Bob, the next door neighbour. Before she says a word, Bob says,
"I'll give you $800 to drop that towel."

After thinking a moment, the woman drops the towel and stands
naked in front of Bob. After a few seconds, Bob hands her $800 and
leaves. The woman wraps herself back in the towel and goes back
up the stairs. "Who was that?" her husband asks." "it was Bob the
nextdoor neighbour." she replies. "Great," the husband says, " did
he say anything about the $800 he owes me?"

Moral of this story : If you share critical information pertaining to
credit and risk with your shareholders in time, you may be in a
position to prevent avoidable exposure.
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A priest offers a Nun a lift. She got in and crossed her legs, forcing
her gown to reveal a leg. The priest nearly had an accident.
After controlling the car, he stealthily slid his hand up her leg.
The nun said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?" The priest removed
his hand. But, changing gears, he let his hand slide up her leg
again. The nun once again said, "Father, remember Psalm 129?"

The priest apologised. "Sorry sister but the flesh is weak."
Arriving at the convent, the nun went on her way. On his
arrival at the church, he rushed to look up Psalm 129.
It said, " Go forth and seek further up, you will find glory."

The moral of this story : If you are not well informed in your
job, you might miss a great opportunity.
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I was just visiting some friends, who have a real working farm.
I was watching this one rooster chasing after this hen, when
the friend's wife came out to feed them. The rooster stopped
chasing the hen at once and ran over to begin eating.

I stood there thinking to myself, " Damn !! I hope I never get
that hungry."
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An E mail from God

One day, God was looking down at Earth and saw all the evil
that was going on. He decided to send an angel down to Earth
to check it out. So He called one of his best Angels and sent the
angel to Earth for a time.

When she returned she told God, yes it is bad on Earth. 95% is
bad and 5% is good.

Well He thought for a moment and said maybe I'd better send
down a second angel to get another point of view.

So God called another angel and sent her to Earth for a time.
When the angel returned she went to God and told Him, yes
the Earth is in decline. 95% was bad and 5% was good.

God said this was not good. So He decided to E-mail the 5%
that were good and He wanted to encourage them, give them
a little something to help keep them going.

Do you know what that E-mail said ?????

You didn't get one either...... huh?
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Just a couple of quotes to end with - - - - -

Sometimes the poorest man leaves his children the richest
inheritance. - - - Ruth E. Renkel.

Children have never been good at listening to their elders,
but they have never failed to imitate them. - -James Baldwin.

The best things you can give children, next to good habits,
are good memories. - - - Sydney J. Harris.

Babies are always more trouble than you thought, and more
wonderful. - - - Charles Osgood.

Cheerio for now, my friends, until next time. Love and Best
Wishes to you all. Enjoy your lives. Merle.

Post 251 - - - - Saturday, 7th July, 2007.
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