Tonight I’ve been thinking about all the times I’ve been in the Hospital.
Actually, I’m wondering how many times I’ve been Hospitalized.
I’ve been in the O.R. over thirty times.
Some years I got Hospitalized four times a year. Some years just twice.
Then, I go a stretch of a few years without going to the Hospital.
During one period of my life, when I was younger, and all of my friends were getting married, I ended up Hospitalized on my friend’s wedding date and had to miss his wedding.
That happened twice in a row.
One friend invited me to his wedding, and on the wedding date, I got Hospitalized.
Then, another friend invited me to his wedding, and on his wedding date, I got Hospitalized.
I felt jinxed.
It worried me so much that when a third friend told me he was getting married, I told him not to invite me to his wedding.
I was genuinely afraid and thought I was jinxed and would get Hospitalized on his wedding date if he invited me to his wedding.
I remember asking him to tell me his wedding date as soon as they got a day picked out.
“That way, I can know what day I’ll be in the Hospital,” I told him.
I spent the day of his wedding taking my temperature and inspecting my urine.
If I get Hospitalized anytime soon, I’ll think it was because of this Journal Entry.
I think like that. A lot of fellas think that way.
Ever heard of “Knock on wood?”
But I Journal what I’m thinking…
Believe it or not, I do have fond memories of being at “Carraway Hospital” as a young boy.
Carraway Hospital was once one of the greatest Hospitals in America. It was the ’80s.
Here recently, they tore it down. I don’t know who “They” are. I guess the property owners.
It closed its doors years ago.
The Nurses took good care of the Kids at that place.
I’m sure the Nurses take good care of the Kids at all Hospitals, but at that time, as a kid, I only had experience with Carraway.
I always got the same room at Carraway.
Yep. That’s a big deal for a Kid. I felt Special.
It was next to the “Play Room” with all the toys. And they had good toys.
It was before Nintendo.
They had Fire Trucks, Dump Trucks, Tractors, and Board Games such as Checkers. The good stuff for a young fella.
I remember my brother always finding a wheelchair and using it to sneak me out of my room.
We’d go all over the Hospital. We even went to the Morgue once. Just once.
It’s frigid in the Morgue.
I’m guessing I’ve gotten Hospitalized around Eighty times, but it sure feels like more.
—Knock on wood—
