My wife's cell phone rang — her face immediately turned gray. She stifled a scream and told me to call our future son-in-law. Unsure of what was happening, I did as instructed and found out my daughter had been hit from behind while skiing and was on her way to the emergency room in McCall with a badly broken leg.
I stood up from our table at Salmon River Brewery and started walking to the hospital. As I walked, I dialed our friend, Dr. Tim, and asked if he could look in on my daughter when she arrived. He said he was just heading into church and would stop over after she got settled and the team took some "pictures."
A few minutes later, I entered the emergency room and had the typical McCall experience. Standing around my daughter were several friends — the doctor on call was my friend from ski patrol and a skiing buddy, the nurse admitting her was the mother of my daughter's friends, the other doc on call was my daughter's primary care physician. And on and on. It was comforting to talk with people I knew well and who I knew were extremely good at their jobs.
Like most people, our family has been touched by cancer, so I was comfortable with being in a hospital and talking with docs about next steps for one of my kids. But this was different. More pleasant. It was the first time I knew everybody in the room and I marveled, once again, at the power of the community we have here in McCall. Simply awesome.
The day wound on, we got our daughter to her house and made plans for adult "daycare" for the first few weeks of her recovery, and finally, I dropped into bed, exhausted and worried.
The next morning, Sunday, I got out of bed, made some coffee and, for reasons I don't understand, logged into my email. The first message was a reminder from the West Central Uphill Alliance (WCUA) about the upcoming Little Skimo race I had signed up for with another one of my daughters.
A smile tugged at my face as I thought again about how cool our little town was and how neat it was to have something positive to look forward to. I made a plan then and there to spend a little more time than usual hiking uphill that week in preparation for my first ever skimo race.
The week wound on and the good vibes kept building. I joined the WCUA group for their usual Tuesday evening meetup to hike inbounds. And the next night, a few of my buddies decided to do a post-work lap, which ended with a beer at the top as we watched the sun set.
Post-work laps.
By the time Thursday arrived, I realized I needed to take a break from hiking and try and save some energy for Saturday. So, I left work early and spent late Friday afternoon skiing some resort laps with my wife followed by a tailgate in the lower lot as the sun went down. Perfect ending to what started as a rough week.
Saturday dawned sunny and hot. I organized the gear for myself and my daughter. We headed over to Little Ski Hill to get our race tags and joined the rest of the world outside the lodge for the start of the race. With a holler from the starter, we took off. It was obvious early on — we were not going to be contenders. We started in the back of the pack and stayed there for the entirety of the race, finishing dead last — or as my teenagers say, Dead Effing Last (D.F.L. for short).
Despite holding everybody up from the race-end party, we had a blast – big smiles plastered on our faces and tired legs a not-so-subtle reminder we did something worthwhile. As we walked out to the car, ready to head up to the mountain to meet the family for some late Saturday afternoon resort laps, I couldn't help but think about the new friends I'd made and the old ones I'd spent some time with.
None of them, as far as I know, were doctors, but I'm sure I'll run into them over and over again as the year winds away because this is McCall and that's what happens here. Acquaintances become friends. Friends become lifelong friends. And, sometimes, those lifelong friends step in and take care of you and your family during a moment of crisis.
I hope you had a great week and are looking forward to getting after it this weekend – and maybe making a new acquaintance or two.
See you out there!
