Two Points for Trying…

So, I don’t have a son in the actual army…well, actually I do today, as Elie is in the reserves, but that’s the abnormal, not the normal. What I have a lot of this summer is a son in the ambulance squad. David is volunteering at least twice a week for 8 hour shifts. He was on yesterday – and again today. He’s a teenager – that means he loves to sleep. Getting up and out of the house and to the ambulance station by 7:00 a.m. is quite an accomplishment for him – and he’s been doing it most of the summer. What he doesn’t seem to accomplish is taking food along. So, somewhere along the way, when I can, I’ll bring him a sandwich (or the makings of it), some chocolate milk or ice tea.

So, on my way home, I offered to bring him dinner. I got busy doing this and that and just called to offer to take over the spaghetti and meat (soy meat, actually) mixture I made for dinner.

He didn’t answer his phone – not a good sign because that probably means he is on a run and someone needs attention. Or, it could mean he went to the bathroom and left his phone around…it could mean that. So, after a few minutes, having worked myself up to believe he was there and just didn’t get to the phone, I decided to call again. This time he answered in a harried voice, “I”m on a mikreh [a call or happening]; I’ll call you in an hour and a half.”

I let him get off the phone quickly and then thought – an hour an a half…what that means is that it just started, whatever has happened – or that the mikreh is far away.  Maale Adumim’s station has several ambulances here – and we cover from all the way down near the Dead Sea up to the edge of Jerusalem – including many of the Arab areas. The hour and a half includes his time to get to the hospital, drop off the patient, fill out forms and return. There are several hospitals in Jerusalem – four, I think.

Really, there are three that they might go to – depending on the injury and the patient’s request. Yesterday, a pregnant woman was hit by a large vehicle – that meant Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem – it’s the most serious, the most well known – no fooling around.

I don’t know what is happening but seconds ago and now in the distance, I can hear a siren. It’s a strange feeling to know my son is in that ambulance. I guess his dinner will get cold and I’ll have to warm it and take it to him later…I wonder if in the great scoreboard in the sky, I get two points for trying…

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