Some things that touched me this week.

Semester's over, Adelaide turned one, Christmas is here. I can't believe my little Adelaidey turned one! This semester was NOT what i needed it to be, in fact, it was the opposite. Easily the worst semester of my life, but at least i can say that 'another one's down and another one bites the dust.' The past week has been somewhat surreal. I've been wrapping up a semester of school that I'd rather have said 'good riddance' to but, dotted along the way I've had some experiences that have left impressions on me. On Monday we went to see the lights on Temple Square and while it was nice, i haven't been able to get the drive home out of my head. We stopped for gas at Thanksgiving Point and as we pulled into the gas station there were two guys pushing a car up the hill to the gas station. I parked and hopped out to help. They were struggling with the car and when i exerted the force of my exceeding girth upon the car the owner gave me a look of relief i can't remember ever seeing before. We didn't say a word but i knew he was grateful. I was glad to be there. It was a special moment. Then the other day we were at Wal-Mart and as we were driving out of the parking lot we noticed a man in a wheelchair who had passed out. As i stopped to get out we saw the daughter of this man grow increasingly frantic. She explained that he had had a major heart attack two weeks ago and was just released from the hospital earlier that day. He was out cold and getting very pale. If I've ever seen anyone look dead it was him. I tend to go into what Kelly calls "medical mode" when things like this happen. I've always been able to keep a cool head and see what needs to be done. The daughter, however, was the boss of the scene because she was related to him. That's not the position i like to be in. She decided to lay him on the ground right there (in the parking lot), but before she got into position i felt the man's pulse. That was the greatest feeling i had all day. It was weak, but it was definitely there. For some reason after that i kind of came out of medical mode and while i was participating in the whole scene i felt detached. I seemed to be an observer more than involved and i became filled with emotions. I felt for this daughter who was still so scared for her Dad. I was sad for the man who was laying in the parking lot on a cold day with strangers staring at him from all directions. I thought about how i knew CPR, and so did an off duty fireman who stopped moments later but if she didn't allow us to do anything our hands were tied. Shortly after we got him on the ground he came to. It all seemed like a dream, and i floated away down the road thinking of how Someone with every First Aid skill under the sun wants to help us out. He knows how to do anything we need. I commented to Kelly how there wasn't to much i could do but watch as this lady slapped her Dad over and over trying to get him to wake up like she was on TV or something. I think too often we're like that lady_ well intentioned, trying to fix the problem ourselves, slapping and shouting, but we refuse to see Someone right over our shoulders Who's been watching the whole scene and knows how to help.