Dreaded Phone Call

[Wayne Goodwin]

Most of my life i have hated to answer a phone , especially if i didn't know who was calling . Feeling i may get a call of something bad happened ....

Have you ever experienced  a dreaded Call ?

[Wayne Goodwin]

One night i got a call . It was very late . It was my Daughter (Youngest) . She was crying and told me her Husband had been shot . Was transferred to a trauma center . I found out he was shot 17 times . I was helpless . I could reach out to comfort her like a father should . I learned in the days a head it was a drug bust . The Swat team was about to bust in their home . Karen and Jimmy thought someone was breaking in . That was when he picked up a gun and fired it . Hitting two Swat members in the arm .They ordered every one down on the floor . Swat began firing on their home hitting Jimmy . If my Daughter hadn't got on floor when she did . She would a got shot also . He recovered and has two bullets still in him . That happened 4 or 5 years ago and still hasn't went to trial . All this time he has worn an ankle bracelet . They have since split up and filling for Divorce . Charges against Karen will be dropped when she testifies against Jimmy . That was a nightmare too experience .

[crestofwaves]

My kids went down the wrong road as teens.  They are recovering nicely and slowly but surely.  But, my heart still beats fast when my cell phone rings or my house phone rings late at night.  I DID get MANY dreadful phone calls.  Yikes.  I don't know how they survived--or how I survived, but here we all are to talk about it!

[blithe spirit]

I get plenty of phone calls so I have no issues answering the phone. For me, it's the middle of the night call or knock on the door that wakes me out of the dead sleep...that has always been a bad thing.

[Wayne Goodwin]

I was living with mom and dad when he died . I still vision seeing the medics carrying him from bedroom to the stretcher . He was kinda gnawing at his gums . That is something you can't put away . I was at work when mom died . She was on my Aunt Nora's porch . She just fell over . They wouldn't let me see her .

[Lifesighs]

I've had a few in my time, the middle of the night calls were usually to rescue a friend from some mess they had gotten themselves into. I don't dread calls but some days I think of how Dorothy Parker answered her phone " what fresh hell is this?"

On the upside I've had more than a few nice surprise phone calls that made my whole week.

[crestofwaves]

My experience with the deaths of my parents was quite different.  I watched my mother die after a long long life, and I knew my father was dying after his long long life and was in the hospital with him daily after work. The family took turns so that they would never be alone.  So the day he died, I went to work waiting and waiting for the call to be at his bedside, but by the time I got the call, left school and drove to the hospital, he had already passed.  Neither was a surprise.

[Karin M Fichtner]

My mother died in my house, with my husband, best friend and me.  No phone call involved. But two weeks earlier I got the call in the early hours of the morning that my father had taken a turn for the worse.  I raced up there, but he was gone when I arrived.  The other dreaded call was when my youngest son was involved in a horrendous motorcycle accident.  Fortunately, he survived, but not without much pain, extensive surgery, and lots of therapy.

The call I dreaded the most I guess would have to be when my oldest boy was flying over Iraq in the war. I watched the skies above Baghdad light up with anti-aircraft fire and spotlights.  I knew he was in the middle of it.  For the first three weeks, I held my breath every time the phone rang. Thankfully, that call never came. 

[Kim]

WOW, all of you guys have been through a LOT of pain in your lives. I'm sorry for each one of your sufferings though you are great examples of people who have risen above adversity and even tragedy. I've read many of your stories on other discussions as well and I just admire each and every one of you!! God bless you ALL!!

I have never had "THAT CALL" that so many of YOU have and every now and then I get scared because I KNOW its coming...in every life a little rain must fall. I dont dwell on it but I know the days ahead will come...I will start losing my parents, friends, etc. My young adult children will have "SOMETHING" going on. My faith is good though it could be stronger and I pray I will handle that "dreaded call" when it comes.

[Wayne Goodwin]

When Mom died . The call i got told me to get to hospital . I went by the schools to pick my daughters up then when i got to hospital they didn't have her . Set there an hour with them trying to find where they took her . Finally they told me to go home . I got there and i found out she laid there 4 hours dead . They couldn't move her till i told then what funeral home i wanted her to be taken to . Made me go next door and wait till she was removed .I didn't get to see her . When we went to pick out the casket . Her sisters were there . I felt numb . I saw the casket i wanted but the sisters had other choices . I just got up and told them to pick what ever the hell they decided and walked out . When i saw mom in casket something was just not right . Mom always read the Bible and i had a white Bible placed in her hands . It was the hardest thing i ever had to do to bury Mom . When Dad was buried it was hard . But losing you last parent was almost unbearable . After the funeral the kids and me went home . Although my Girls were 7 and 6 years old they helped me so much . It took about 6 months to learn to start living again . It really hurt .

[Karin M Fichtner]

You're not alone, Wayne. I lost Daddy in 2000, and I miss him every single, solitary day. I still need his sunny disposition and his wise counsel. I have never met another man like him, and I doubt I ever will. They broke the mold after he was born. Not a day goes by I don't wish I could talk to him.