Calling Dr. Howard, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard

I guess you need to be of a certain age to know The 3 Stooges Movie where they played three doctors. Howard, Fine, and Howard. Jim loves slapstick comedy like that. He's always up for a good laugh and confined humor and pretty much anything. About a month ago, he found one of his beloved rubber ducks in the road. Wounded. Badly. Did he leave it there to float into oblivion? No he did not. He rescued it. Brought it back and showed me the poor fractured floatie, to which I gave him one of my famous eyerolls.

Jim fashioned the replacement piece that was missing between his eyes, repaired the tears and reconnected the little guy's head and broken heart. I have no idea how much time he spent applying rubber cement. That wasn't the point, I guess. The point was to fix it.

He does that with all sorts of things in life. Toasters. Water hoses. Pool pumps. Coughing cars. He's even tried to fix some people. That didn't work. Never does. But he generally leaves people better than when he finds them. His kindness, sincere concern for people, and his humors stand out from the norm. Not everyone gets his humor or how easily he is entertained, but that's okay. Maybe they'll smile later.

What's interesting now is that the little duck was in the road, broken head and fractures, and Jim put him back together again. It took patience and time. But, he felt it was worth it. Jim is rather like that little duck. Now we need the patience and time to let God and him do the repairs.

Currently, staples are out, and he is repairing the scalp incisions and sutures. Bone fractures. Brain trauma. Bruising. And in the last two days pneumonia.

He is still opening his eyes. Making connections. Squeezing fingers. Raising eyebrows. And lifting his head off the pillow to place it where he wants. He is working so hard.

And the medical staff has been wonderful, attentive and caring. The people at JPS ICU and Emergency are no comedy team. They're all pro. Thank you. All.