stuff is cool

The weekend started out normal enough. We all took Friday off and drove up to Austin for my cousin Julie’s wedding. Well, she’s my mom’s cousin’s daughter. We just say cousin in a family like ours. I was in the house party but that was just in name only; I didn’t have any duties.

Friday night was the rehearsal dinner, which was your usual big rehearsal dinner. I didn’t get really drunk till later that night, when we met up with the bride and groom and a bunch of people at some hotel near 6th street. Maybe Bombay Sapphire gets you drunker or something, but I got sick-drunk, not silly drunk, at least. Danny was up late taking care of me, so none of us were in any shape to go to brunch the next day. We slept till 1.

We went down to the hotel restaurant for lunch around 2. We were sitting at the kids’ table, me, Danny, Ben, and my 3 little cousins, when I noticed Ben was staring blankly and scratching his ear. He was sweating. “Ben?” I asked. He wouldn’t respond. He went rigid. Danny tried to nudge him. “Something’s wrong with Ben!” I shouted in a panic, and then everything happened very fast. My cousin Trevor ran down the street to a fire department while my aunt called 911. I ran through the lobby to call my dad in his room, with my 3 kid cousins trailing behind. I was shaking so hard I couldn’t get the phone to connect, so Danny called him while I raced back to the restaurant. Paramedics arrived and I filled them in on my brother’s condition (diabtetes) and told him that he had his insulin just before we came down. My mom and dad and I were all by his side as they gave him an IV of sugar and saline. He slowly came back to life. It was terrifying waiting for him to wake up. his blood sugar was at 40. That’s LOW.

He could have died. We realized later that he had gone into shock long before I noticed, because people had been stealing his fries and he had not said anything, which is unlike him. It was when I noticed him sweating that I knew something was wrong. I wonder how much longer it would have gone before we noticed. We just thought he was being quiet. He never checks his blood sugar and he got a speech from the paramedic, Diana. If this had happened when he was alone, he could have died. I am very concerned that this will happen again. You know how I worry. But he didn’t go to the hospital.

For the rest of the afternoon we watched Air Force One in our hotel room and then went to the wedding. Ben wasn’t allowed to drink and I was still sick from the night before, so I didn’t drink either, so the reception it had a surreal “waiting for it to really start” twinge to it.

The bride didn’t toss the bouquet. Instead she just presented me with it. I think Danny got the message.