February 12, 2023
Riding Shotgun with Jeff the Ambulance Driver
Station 21 makes a hard right on 36th Avenue followed by a
Hennepin HealthCare ambulance as I make my way to see my student.
This feels like a very odd birthday reminder from Josh in the upper heavens.
He would have turned 83 tomorrow February 13, 2023.
Once again there are no birthday cards to get him,
or a funny 7 foot paper length of him to cut out and laugh over playfully!
No candles to blow out on the birthday cake I make.
or mystical martini invitations to put into the mail just in time.
Those blue glass martini glasses hold only dust and memories now.
I took some out for wine when my friend Bob came over for supper
they still shimmer.
I watch the EMT's jump out of the cab followed by the ambulance crew.
I remember the feeling of relief as they crowded into our living room.
having endured the minutes passing like hours
as Josh's breathing labored with pain that did not cease.
The big men came in asking medical questions
we told the whole story... again.
I'd stop and offer them my thanks to them for all the times I called 911
when they came to our home
and for that time they saved Josh's life
when he had cardiac arrest in front of the house in the ambulance.
But there is no time for that, there never is.
My tears of remembrance are my offering of thanks
as I watch them entering the known and unknown house,
remembering how it felt to receive their care and help
even as my beloved was whisked away
lights flashing and sirens blaring to a mysterious medical destination.
**********
Drifting in the upper realms your pain has ceased.
You are a vapor now as I summon you from the celestial realms
from time to time and
I am so grateful you are far beyond it all now.
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