Telephone Line

There's a famous quote by Mark Twain that says, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

I'm feeling a particularly close kinship right now with Mr. Twain, as I have heard of a rather exaggerated rumor regarding myself that I must squelch.

A few weeks ago, I had to leave my Red Cross work in New Jersey early, so that I could come back home to Kansas City and have gallbladder surgery. A nasty business, to be sure, but all is well in Post-Gallbladder World, I am happy to report.

Over the course of my recovery, I received numerous "Get Well" cards in the mail...from friends, church members, and fellow Red Cross volunteers.

One card, though, in particular, caught my eye:



This card was signed by numerous volunteers who I had been working alongside in New Jersey after Hurricane Irene...and their personal messages were...well...puzzling.

One says, "Sorry to hear of your loss."

Um...okay....you're sorry for the loss of my gallbladder???

That's kinda' weird. But....okay.

Another message says, "Prayers for you and your family."

Wow. I lose my gallbladder, and my family needs prayers?

Okay...I guess they kinda' do need prayers, having to deal with me post-surgery. I could give the devil fits when I'm being whiny and needy and not feeling well.

And then I saw this message:

"We are so sorry about your fire."

Mystery solved. Kinda'.

It appears that these volunteers didn't hear correctly on why I left New Jersey early. They didn't hear that it was "gallbladder." They heard "house fire."

They thought my house had burnt down.

If it weren't so tragic, it would almost be funny. I mean, I feel awful that all of these people think that I lost my house...but how the heck did the message get so turned around??!!

Remember that game we played as little kids...Telephone Line...? Where we would sit in a circle...and one person would whisper a message in someone's ear...and then that person would whisper it to the next person...and so on, and so on...and it was always funny to hear how outrageously wrong & mangled the original message was by the very end?

This was Telephone Line in real life...and now, how to go about correcting all of these people so they don't think I lost my house??

Just a little old gallbladder.

Big difference, huh?

Peace.