Saturday, October 24, 2009

In a Blink

So there I was, back in familiar surroundings. Serving at Cafe Mare. (everyone's favorite Italian Restaurant in Santa Cruz,) When a table of 12 showed up in my section.

All flowed naturally, they ordered drinks, appetizers, then their main courses. After dropping off their apps, and choppin it up with them momentarily, I skated off to another table. On my way back, I looked over and one of the ladies at the table was convulsing. At first, I thought she was telling a story and demonstrating to everyone what happened. But upon further examination, I discovered that she was actually having a full blown seizure.

Talk about traumatic. I'd never seen such a thing in all my days. She twitched back and forth violently, as her friends came to her side doing all they could to prevent further damage. Someone wrapped a knife in a napkin and put it in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue. And after about a minute, she emerged. Well, kinda.

For me, the moments to follow were even more frightening than the actual seizure. She simply gazed off in no particular direction. With no awareness whatsoever of her surroundings or her friends. From where I stood, she looked dead. I kept thinking to myself, please Lord don't let this woman die right now. It was right about then, that her friend declared, "She's breathing."

After a few minutes of blank staring, she slowly returned to her senses. Her friends did a great job of consoling her and guiding her back calmly. The ambulance soon arrived. And she made her way to the hospital where she was in stable condition in no time. Thank God.

But I must say, seeing something like this firsthand was a mind blower. And more than anything it brought to the tip of consciousness that life is by no means a guarantee. And any of us can cross over (to the afterlife) in the blink of an eye.

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