The Jewish Mom Network

[I thought I posted this blog entry on Sunday, but just discovered that I did not! Here it is for your reading pleasure.]

One Saturday in October I got a phone call from Sudi. He said he had stumbled in his bedroom (in Oakland) and fell into a mirror leaning against the wall. The mirror had a jagged edge and Sudi cut his leg, just above the ankle. He said he had gotten the bleeding to stop, elevated the leg, and put ice on the cut, but it hurt a lot and he thought he needed stitches. He has a standard transmission car and the leg hurt too much for him to drive. We managed to find a nearby emergency room and a friend to take him there (where they stitched him up). Unfortunately, he was planning to go grocery shopping that day and he had no food in the house. One of his roommates brought him a sandwich for dinner. He called me early the next morning, sounding miserable, to tell me he hadn’t slept much and he was still in pain. He couldn’t walk on the leg (he wished he had asked for crutches at the emergency room). He didn’t have anything in the house to eat for breakfast and he still couldn’t drive (he could barely walk).

I told him to sit tight and I would locate reinforcements. I called my friend Phyllee, my soul sister and a Jewish mom like myself. Phyllee lives here in Ukiah. Her boyfriend of the past couple of years lives in Berkeley so she often goes to stay with him on the weekends. Phyllee and I raised our children together and became very close when her husband died suddenly of a heart attack when her daughters were still teenagers. I called her cell phone and luckily she was, indeed, in Berkeley for the weekend. I told her what was going on with Sudi. He needed to be taken back to the emergency room to get crutches, and to the grocery store to get ibuprofen and food. She said not to worry, she and her boyfriend would head right over to his place in Oakland and take care of him. I called Sudi back and told him help was on the way.

Soon afterward, I got a phone call from Phyllee. She said that she was in the emergency room with Sudi and they were waiting to see a doctor. He had been given a painkiller and crutches and Phyllee had made sure he ate some breakfast. But here was the thing, Phyllee was calling because her daughter Bonnie (who lives here in Ukiah) had just called her to tell her that she was sick and she needed help. Bonnie had gotten food poisoning the night before and had been up sick all night. Phyllee was worried that Bonnie was dehydrated. Bonnie was too weak and dizzy to drive to the store and she didn’t have anything in the house to eat on a delicate stomach. She needed Gatorade, saltines, and chicken broth. Her roommate was there with her, but he had no driver’s license and she lived out on the Rez, not near the grocery store.

I told Phyllee not to worry, I was on it. I ran out of the house and, while Phyllee sat in the emergency room with Sudi, I brought Bonnie some supplies, made sure she was rehydrated and her electrolyte balance was back (Gatorade), that she was not running a fever, and I called Phyllee to give her the report. We jokingly called ourselves the Jewish Mom Network. It is not often that one has the opportunity to return a favor so instantly. Crazy that both our children were having a crisis at the same time. Jewish moms to the rescue!