Recall Notice...

When you come from a family as large as mine, a family of tough, stoic Germans who just keep on keeping on, and who generally stick around for a long time, it’s easy to take that strength for granted and forget that while we may be resilient, we’re still all human.

Of course, there have been challenges in our big family.  There have been accidents and illnesses and those aunts, uncles, cousins, spouses, and children just keep bouncing back.  Never an audible complaint.  Never a plea for pity.  Just “keep on truckin”, as the bumper sticker advises.  That’s what we do.

My pack of nine was only one segment of this tough and healthy brood.  As the baby of the litter, my big brothers and sisters were just always there.  There was never any doubt or question that the big dogs would ALWAYS be there to protect me, to entertain me, and to make sure I was loved.  That’s what we do.  And, of course, these big brothers and sisters went out into the world and accidents happened, injuries occurred.   They happened to the baby, too.  But we got patched up, shook off the road dust and came back to the pack - happy and healthy, once again.   Because that’s also what we do.

So we all carry on with life, doing our things, spread out across the states, happy to see each other when we can.  We’re all busy, so it’s kind of easy to forget that the pack is no longer a bunch of puppies and we’re not as spry as we used to be.  Still, when the bones creak and the joints ache, it’s easy to remember that folks in our line live to 100 and ignore the cues that something isn’t right. 

Usually, we notice the signals but we’re too busy putting out other peoples’ fires to take our own alarm bells seriously.  Thankfully, we’ve managed to surround ourselves with people who will grab us by the shoulders and tell us “Hey, idiot, your car is on fire!” until we have no choice but to stop and do something about it.  I don’t think that’s all that uncommon.  I just don’t appreciate the fact that my box of dogs always tends to experience these fires in packs.

One of my brothers was hit with a serious illness that brought us to preparing for his final arrangements.  Thankfully, love, prayer, and tenacity returned him from the edge – stunning doctors and caregivers and renewing hope for his ultimate complete healing.  A week after we got his clean bill of health, another brother was rushed to the operating room to deal with an unexpected heart blockage.  The surgeons did their magic, and all is well now. 

However!!!  There’s always a “however”. While working the phone chain across the country to talk about those 2 brothers, another brother confessed to symptoms that indicated possible strokes and neurological issues.  He had an appointment scheduled but, in typical Albert fashion, he had some other stuff to do first.  The morning after the heart brother was released from the hospital, the third brother was in an ambulance.  Tests, transfers, more tests, and it was revealed that a large, thankfully operable and cancer free, tumor had taken up residence in his skull.

 

Normally in life, I prefer all the rain to pour down at once so we can get it out of the way, let the clouds clear, and allow the sun to shine freely once again.  That’s the way car problems and house repairs tend to come and I’m fine with that.  This is a bit much.

When life offers challenges, I often look to the lessons of the previous generation for encouragement.  Grandpa would make some machine-based analogy, I think, and that makes sense. 

My pack came from the same factory.  Some of us are SUVs, some of us are diesel trucks, and some of us are sedans.  We all rolled off the line during the same production era.  Should it really be a surprise that the recall notices all come around the same time?  Sometimes, it’s necessary to replace a part or repair a hose so you can get back on the road and keep adding miles to the odometer.

My job as the baby of the family is to nag everyone else to check their recall notices and make sure we have regular inspections and tuneups.  I’m confident that we’ll all be rocking down the highway again soon but for now, I’d like the rain to stop so the sun can shine on our chrome once again.