His sense of humor!

Today, Mondo and I met up with my friend Matthew for lunch. I had borrowed his camera to download pictures from the Mammoth Game on Thursday and wanted to return it (Thanks Matthew!). We met at Noodles & Co near Belmar. Mondo tried my dish and confirmed what I had mentioned early, that it was a little spicy. I said "That's okay. Nothin' that the Cold Stone we're going to go get won't cool off." Matthew just laughed and said that he was afraid he wouldn't be able to join us for fear of the food coma he would have to deal with when returning to work. Lame.

Okay, for the rest of the story to make sense, here is an email that I received last week.

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Tommy,

I am so sorry that I have not been by to see you yet. I would like to come by when you are up to it. So happy for you though, about Gavin Prout..wow!, Lucky girl. Im so jealous. It was wonderful reading your letter and hearing your great attitude. God has been truly faithful to our prayers. Im so happy that you have such a wonderful support system, with your family and church family. So let me know what days are good for visitors and I will bring over some cold stones :)

Jennifer

I told Mondo and Matthew, "You know, Jen said that she would bring me some Cold Stone last week" and I yelled out "JEN, BRING ME MY COLD STONE!" And we laughed, seeing how close we were and the idea of asking someone to deliver it to us....

So we say goodbye to Matthew - and Mondo & I drive three storefronts down to Cold Stone, and as we were parking I see Matthew walking....
Me: There's Matthew... Where did he park?!
Me: Who's he with?
Me: Hahaha. That's Jen!

She walked up and opened my door, gave me a big ol' hug then she said, "I just ran into Matthew and he told me you were coming over here. That's so funny, I owe you Cold Stone! How are you? It's so good to see you....."

What? You had me at Cold Stone...

I wouldn't necessarily call my yelling out "JEN, BRING ME MY COLD STONE!" a prayer. And I wouldn't necessarily say that Jen showing up and buying me (and Mondo) our Cold Stones was an answer to my prayers. But I would say that the laughter I got out of the whole incident was. Laughter, it's a fact to me - is some of the best medicine! And the whole incident made me laugh!

The Big Day - Part I

I'm not really nervous. Not as nervous as I would think I would be. The day is finally here and I am actually happy.

Mom is not ready, so Mondo, Darren and I head out on our own. Mondo's back went out last week, so he is limping and can't drive. Therefore, I am driving myself to the hospital - again. This time, I think it's really funny because we pull up to drop the car off at Valet Parking and I jump out to rush in to be on time for my check-in at 8:15am. Mondo is behind me, wriggling himself out of the backseat, barely able to walk. And I think, the valets probably think Geez lady. The guy is having surgery today. The least you could do it wait for him.

I see why they ask me to come in two hours early for a surgery that is scheduled to begin at 10:15am. I waited at least a half an hour until they called me to complete my registration. Thank goodness I had done most of it by phone already. By this time, my mom and dad had got there, and so had Pastor Pat and Mike Norris. We all go up to the surgical floor where they're directed to a waiting room and I am taken to Pre-Op. Hugs and kisses from all but Darren. He's already run ahead to the waiting room. Talk about hurry-up and wait.

It's about 9:40am and I'm just putting on my last piece of surgery garb - an aluminum looking puffy hat, that looks like one of those popcorn tins that open up real big when you heat it over the stove. Before microwave popcorn, I don't even know if they still make them. When my family and friends are brought in, Linda Chisholm is here too. They surround me and take turns saying a prayer. My dad is crying. I have a tear or two in my eyes as well. Not for any nervousness now, nor for any fear. Just for the thankfulness and amazement at being loved so much.

At 9:50, I am in the surgery room. Scooting over to the surgery table. Here comes the anesthesia. The anesthesiologist is making small talk. I can't really respond. I look up at the clock. It's 9:58am. Guess we're starting early.....