One of my Favorite Stories

On August 2, 1989, Freddy arrived home from a work dinner to find his house empty.  Nothing unusual.  He called his in-laws who lived down the street.  He says he knew the moment his father-in-law answered the phone.

His wife, Parah, didn't know.  She was too busy running up and down the stairs trying to relieve the cramps caused by eating a whole bowl of green beans for dinner.  After the stairs, she moved on to the stationary bike before resolving herself to the bathroom floor.  She still had three weeks.

A few hours later, they were in the car on the way to the hospital.  Freddy's eyes rotated between the road, the clock, and his screaming wife.  Less than five minutes.  As they drew nearer, he expressed his lifelong dream of being pulled over at that very moment.  Through gritted teeth Parah told him to shut up and drive the car.

One stoplight away and an ambulance appeared on the horizon.  Freddy didn't stop to think.  He knew he had to get his wife to the hospital before that ambulance arrived.  He ran the red light and threatened to park in the ambulance bay.  He parked in the on-call physician spot instead.

Inside of the hospital a few floors up, their sister-in-law Sasha heard about Freddy and Parah's late-night arrival.  She slowly meandered downstairs thinking she had plenty of time.  Stopping at the nurse's station to talk to her friends, she was told about a patient in Room One mere minutes away from giving birth.  Suddenly the pieces fell into place and she rushed into the room, almost missing the birth of her goddaughter.

She wasn't the only one who almost missed it.  The doctor almost missed it, too.  He arrived at the hospital and poked his head in Parah's room.  "Do I have time to change my clothes?"

"If you hurry," the nurse said.

They teased he could have been there sooner if Freddy hadn't been parked in his spot.  Luckily, the doctor did make it back in time to deliver a baby girl at 1:35am on August 3.

That was 21 years ago tonight.  How do you think I should celebrate?

<>< Katie