Thinking Out Loud, VolumeDIII

Several times a day, five days a week, my daughter puts patients to sleep for surgery; then when the operation is completed, she wakes them up. It's a job she's had for a few years now, and as a result, she has become quite skilled in her chosen profession. However, I'll never forget the morning when she was in Anesthesia School, she called me and the conversation went like this: Me: Hello. Valerie: I need you to pray for me today, Dad. I'll be putting someone to sleep for the first time. Me: Are you gonna tell them it's your first time? Valerie: No. (laughing) They'll never know. That's when I offered her some words of real encouragement: Well, I hope you can wake them up when it's over. My pastor tells the story of his first sermon. His wife and mother in law were in the audience, and his mother in law whispered to her daughter as he was speaking, "Honey, you might want to go back to school and get your degree." She did just that, but I have to say I can't think of any preacher I'd rather hear today than him. My mind often goes back to 2010 when my five week old granddaughter had open heart surgery, a procedure that lasted seven hours. The skilled surgeon took her tiny heart out of her chest and and went inside it, making the life saving repairs to some almost microscopic canals within her heart. We stood in awe as he explained the procedure to us afterward, yet to him, it was practically routine. The thought then occurred to me that although he had performed that procedure many times, there was one day when he did it for the first time to someone's child. One more: While working in Northern Mississippi one evening, I walked into a Chinese restaurant, and I just happened to be their first customer of the day. My waitress was on her first day on the job. Her family had come in just behind me, wanting to be her first customers. Too late! I got there first. I ordered egg foo young, and as is customary with that dish, they bring an empty plate just before they bring the food. I was in a joking mood that evening, so I picked up the plate, turned over sideways, held it up and shook it while looking down at the table. I then told her, "There's no food in this plate!" I could tell she was a little flustered, while her family was laughing hysterically. I was back in that town a few months later, and that same girl was my waitress again. By then, she was an old pro, and was completely at ease with her job. Unless your employment requires crying and pooping, you weren't born knowing how to perform the duties of your job. None of us want to be our barber's first haircut, our mechanic's first repair job, our counselor's first case, and we sure don't want to be the surgeon's first operation, or the pilot's first passenger, but someone has to be. I can actually recall a few times when I was a kid, and I would hear a young minister deliver his first sermon, but I usually liked it because their sermons would only last about 12 minutes. I still recall the first time I sang before a crowd, and I must say, thank God for patient, understanding people, because I was terrified and it showed. I should explain that I let the waitress in Mississippi know I was just teasing her, and I tipped her well. I guess it all goes back to the Golden Rule...."Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." I've needed kindness, tolerance and encouragement for all my firsts. Hopefully, I can offer the same courtesy. You and I both will one day have to face death for the first time, and as for me, I'll be a little nervous. Hopefully I'll receive that same kindness, tolerance, and understanding that day as well. Preston