In fact, do it right now, so you don’t forget.
Get out your ID, and make sure there is at least two contact phone numbers right in there with it.
You may be thinking, “Why? I have all that in my cell phone. And the cops will send someone to my house, using the driver’s license address.”
That’s what I thought, too.
Seven pm Saturday, Mr. WH went to his friend’s nearby, to hang out while the literal garage band practiced.
He plays bass, but snapped his right wrist clean through, last year April. So he sometimes goes on the weekend, depending on who is going to be there, hangs out, and tries to strum a little.
When he was not home Sunday morning when I woke up, I was not concerned. If he intends to drink, he will take our 20 year old son to be his designated driver. So I figured he drank more than intended, and stayed over to sleep it off on the studio couch.
By four pm, I figured he may have also taken his friend who has no car shopping, as he has before. But I did send a text to his cell phone. “Are you still alive?”
No answer. Again, I was not overly concerned. Not only has no cop come to the door, Mr. WH likes to play that game of using the silent treatment to control the behavior of those around him. One nephew said his wife does the same thing. Hopefully, she will not be doing that anymore.
By eight pm, our old son came home from his friend’s house.
“Where’s Dad?”
“He hasn't contacted you?”
“No.”
By the next morning, still having had no cops come to the door, I began to wonder if he was in a ravine somewhere. I called his place of work, but no one had seen him.
I went to the State Police Annex five miles from our house. I happened to know the young trouper who was in that morning. He took my information to file a missing person report. Then he made one phone call.
“Ma’am, you husband is in XYZ Hospital. He had an accident 1 am Sunday. Out usual people weren’t on this weekend, so that’s all I could find out right now.”
One fractured hip, two fractured femurs, one fractured kneecap, and one ankle fracture. Still sedated, still unable to speak.
I found his cell phone in his truck, when I went to the tow lot to take care of that part on Tuesday. He had 135 new messages since one am Sunday.
We need nothing. We have insurance, including lost income. I have a family of carpenters, electricians, and contractors to do house modifications. And I’m and RN. This isn’t about us.
Please, just go put those two phone numbers with your ID.
And don’t punish loved ones with the Silent Treatment.