The Rule

Ages ago I called Mumsy one day and Pops answered. "Oh," he said causally, "we're just on the way home from the hospital, you mother had a scare..."

Excuse me? What?? THE HOSPITAL and you're just now telling me?! And only because I called??!!

"Well," Mumsy replied to my surprised questioning (I was, apparently, on speaker phone), "it's not like there was anything you could have done."

"Yes there is." I insisted.

"Like what?"

"Worry, mother, I could have worried."

Thus, a new rule was born. Whenever either one of my parents is hospitalized they have to call me while they're in the hospital.

I tell you this now because Monday morning at 5:55 am my phone rang. It was my Dad. I hit ignore. Because, really? Who calls at 6 o'clock in the morning? As soon as I hit ignore I realized that no one calls at 6 am... unless there's something wrong.

I immediately called him. "You're mother is in the hospital. They ran some tests..." blah blah blah.... "and everything is fine, but she told me to call you." Fact: when calling someone at 6 AM start at the end. Especially if it's "she's fine". I spent 30 heart-stopping seconds wondering if I should be booking a flight home.

Turns out she was anemic.

I rolled over and went back to sleep.