Keep Your Head

I got a phone call yesterday from a friend of my brother in law. He was very upset and said that a friend of his had called and told him that my brother in law had ODed in his car. I knew to take this news cautiously because I had seen my brother in law just the day before, and his car had been impounded. I told the friend that my brother in law didn't even have his car, so the story couldn't be true, and that I had just seen him the day before anyway. He was very relieved.

Today this same friend called me back. He said that another friend had called him again with the same news, that he had heard that my brother in law had ODed and was dead. Now, I have to admit that for a split second I had to wonder why two different people would come up with the same story. I had expected to hear from my brother in law yesterday, but didn't, so wondered if there might be some truth to the rumors.

I know this might be hard for some people to believe, but in emergency situations, I have always been able to keep my head about me. I don't over react, and I don't panic. In fact, I have always been worried that doctors will think something is out of place because I don't panic when I have to take a child in to emergency. I think this is an important skill to have.

It's a good thing I didn't overreact to the phone call. I told the friend that I felt sure that the rumors weren't true, and why. He said, "I think you are right, in my heart I believe he is still alive too." A little while later my brother in law called to ask to talk to my husband. He was right where I expected him to be, and nothing bad had happened. Remember that old saying, "Keep your head when all about you are losing their's"? I think that's more than just a cute saying, I think it is a lesson for life.

An interesting side note to this: the whole family was trying to figure out what to do to alleviate my brother in law's current situation. We pulled back our assistance from him, and wondered what to do next. It's very interesting that when we stopped helping him, he took the initiative to take some steps to get out of his current situation. I'm crossing my fingers that this works out for him. Because what works out for him....alleviates our stress as well.