I had the craziest thing happen to me the other day.
I had an early Dr. appointment with the arm surgeon. I know, 16 years later and my arm is still throwing fits here and there. Payback for being a pain in the ass as a child? I think maybe.
Anyways, they sent me to get X-rays in the building across from the Dr's office which ended up being 100 yards away (ALLELUIA). I don't know about you, but filling out insurance info has to be one of the most annoying things ever. I always feel like I want to throw my pen at the receptionist's face when she smiles and hands me the clipboard. In this case, I got to sit in a chair across from the woman as she filled out all the forms for me. (Andrea=1 MRI place=0). I handed the woman my insurance card and drivers license and stared at her super cool portable scanner on her desk as she inserted one paper at a time. Note to self:. I totally have to get myself one of those babies. At last, the woman hands me a single sheet of paper and asks me to make sure the info is correct. Although I grabbed the paper and said " sure thing" I was really thinking "you have eyes, you check it since all the info you just copied from is right in front of you. First line read: Name: Craig Coukoulis.... My brain froze yet my eyeballs wanted to keep reading. I read the next couple lines with his phone number and address but I couldn't compute a single thing. For a brief second, all the sadness I have felt for the last five years disappeared and I thought my dad was still alive. My heart and lungs skipped a beat and breath and my brain took me to his home of the address I was looking at. "Ma'am?" Ew, did she really just call me ma'am? Thanks lady for snapping me out of it and by saying ma'am none the less. I must have had the most bizarre look on my face because the woman asked "If everything was ok?" I quickly asked her "where did you get this information from?" My eyes never left the paper for I did not want this stranger to see the tears that were quickly forming in my eyes. She said that she thought it was from 2002 but I knew otherwise. It wasn't 2002 it was October 2007 when my dad passed away in the building next to the one I was in. Ugh. I have tried for so many years to remember all the good things that have happened in that hospital...My sister was born there, friends and their babies being welcomed into the world there, but no matter how hard I try I always think of that horrible week I spent there when God welcomed my Dad to his new home. I quietly told her that "my dad had passed away so she no longer needed that information" and quickly grabbed my phone to text my mom. I knew she would respond in a way that only mothers know how to do... and that was exactly what she did (Thank you mom). My tears immediately paused and I was so thankful for my mom's fast response. The women looked absolutely horrified after realizing what had happened and apologized repeatedly but all I wanted was out of that office, oh and to throw that pen in her face (Andrea=1 MRI place=1)
I laid in my bed that night just about to fall asleep when for some reason I began to cry... hard. I cried and told my dad I missed him and prayed for him to give me strength on a day like that when I needed him to be here to hug me. Suddenly, my tears came to a halt.... it was the oddest thing. I wanted to keep crying but my body would not let me. As I laid there trying to understand what had just happened, I was overcome with a feeling of thankfulness. Today wasn't sad. Today my dad found a way to let me know he was watching over me.
I get it. It was his time to go and he would not have been at peace if he would have stayed alive yaddie yaddie yaddie (I have heard it all).
But no matter how old I am, sometimes a girl just needs her dad. That day was one of them.
