Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys….

Second favorite picture.  Rick’s number one pick.

Eric on the left and Evan on the right.  They are about 15 months apart and while they had the normal spats of two brothers growing up they are close now.

I probably shouldn’t share this story but since neither one of them reads this blog what the heck…

A couple of years ago, when Evan was 18 he had to have open heart surgery.  He had a condition called Cardiomyopathy where the heart muscle becomes abnormally thick and rigid.  The surgeon had to go in and thin the walls of his heart so it could beat properly.  When the surgeon came out of surgery to tell us how it went the one thing that really registered (after "it went well’) was that he was wearing cowboy boots.

After a week in the hospital he was released – the beauty of youth and their resilience and natural healing abilities.  Only after a few days he started feeling bad.  Worse than when he first got home.  We went to the emergency room and they discovered he had built up a lot of fluid around his heart and had to go back into the hospital.

I called Eric and he drove over to the hospital.  Evan had just had a procedure where they drained the fluid (harrowing – let me tell you) and he was heavily sedated.  Evan had been pretty unresponsive all afternoon.  Eric sat in a chair next to his bed and just started to cry.  This big, strapping 20 year old, sick with worry.  Evan’s eyes flew open and he looked over at his brother and told him it was okay, he was going to be just fine. 

It was so touching.  And of course since then Evan hasn’t let him forget it – ‘hey remember that time I was in the hospital…….you big baby."

Here’s something ironic – the entire time Evan was in the hospital he REFUSED to eat the food.  He was down right surly about it.  I had to tempt him with Jamba Juices and croissants from a local bakery.  Guess where he works now?  At the very same hospital, delivering food to patients.