Things have been pretty hectic as of late. I have a new boyfriend, and life is great because of it. However, life has thrown me a wicked curve ball.

For those that don't know, I work in a call center doing customer service for a cell phone company. Recently we began doing care rallies and they're a lot of fun. Our most recent one was Tuesday, 04.19.2011. No, nothing bad happened with work. What did happen was much worse.

I received a call at 1230. Like a good girl I had my phone on silent mode so it didn't disturb anyone. Hell, I didn't even realize that I had a call until after I had eaten lunch and we were on our way back to Roanoke. The news gave me one helluva sucker punch and at the quick stop we had for gas I proceeded to lose lunch.

That call that came in at 1230 was from my brother. My dad had fallen off a roof and had been airlifted from Potts Creek to Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The ride back from Waynesboro was the longest it had ever been. Given how much my reaction to the situation affected me I texted my boyfriend (he lives in MD) and he offered to come down. It took me a moment to say yes, but I was glad I did.

What happened, exactly? Well, when he fell off the roof he got caught on a live wire, then fell the rest of the way to the ground. He had broken ribs, a collapsed lung, a fractured vertebrae, a possible broken jaw, and electrical burns. When I got to the hospital my brother and sister-in-law were waiting in the ER waiting room. Dad had been there two hours and had been no more updates as to what was going on. Chris, my brother, went up to a nurse to find out what was happening.

The verdict? A total of five broken ribs, the fractured vertebrae, punctured lung, three electrical burns (one on the left hand where it entered, and two blow outs on his posterior triceps), lots of trauma and swelling... no broken jaw, though they did have him in a neck brace the first day. It was hard to remain calm and collected, and I kept crying and tearing up whenever I thought about him. The majority of the Redman clan came in, too.

Day two. Most of the swelling was gone, and he had the neck brace off as the scans they did the night before showed he didn't need them. It was still hard seeing him like that. I got to introduce him to Andrew, and he approved. Hell, most of the family approved since he came down on such short notice.

Day three. Even more swelling was gone, but now the bruises were showing up. He was a bit annoyed because he wanted out so he could smoke. I was able to talk to a nurse to see if we could get him an electronic cigarette and it was approved.

Day four through five. More bruises and dad was in more pain. on day five, yesterday, they gave him an epidural for the pain, and now he can breathe easier and cough without a lot of pain. They keep telling him he needs to cough because he has the beginning signs of pneumonia.

And today? Gods, I wish I could be with him again since it's a holiday. Instead I'm stuck in the call center dealing with selfish people that have nothing better to do than to gripe and complain. Seriously, people, get a life and stop giving a damn if your "pit'cha texts on ya bidniz phoam" isn't working. There are more important things in life.