Father Peter

Father Peter: "Are you Catholic?"

Mom: "No, Episcopalian."

Father Peter: Shrugging his shoulders and smiling. "Close enough."


God definitely has a sense of humor and pretty good timing.
For this post I will refer back to my list among lists in my little notebook that I carry with me always.

Thursday, October 26th Pre-op for Day Surgery and Craniofacial appointment-

After a long day of registering Ivey for her surgery on her cleft lip, the only surgery officially scheduled at the time, it was time for dinner. We decided to take Ivey out-on-the-town for a little surgery celebration. Remember we are early birds; it was only 5:30 pm. After little haggling over restaurants, we (Matt) suggested that we eat at Matt's favorite restaurant, Bones. Who was I to disagree? It is delicious.

Ivey loved her night out. She celebrated by sleeping through the entire dinner. Seemingly, she knew when dessert was over, she started to stir and get a little fussy. Like two polite ladies, Ivey and I excused our selves from the table to wait at the door while we left Matt with the check.

As I walked to the door of the restaurant, this is the restaurant where Matt and I normally celebrate wedding anniversaries, emotions were running pretty high due to worries of the next day. Now, if you have ever been in Bones you can envision the setting. I looked to my left and seated at a table nestled in the corner just below the bar (I know every time I think of this I hear Reese Witherspoon and her line from Sweet Home Alabama saying - "You have a baby, in a BAR." No, we did not have Ivey in a bar; however, there is a bar in the restaurant.) was a priest still in collar, and get this, he was reading a Bible. By this time it was about 7:00 pm on a Thursday night. Exactly....what are the chances?

So I looked down at Ivey and said, "Okay, maybe this is our moment."

Ever so discretely Ivey and I eased ourselves over beside the table where the priest was sitting. I am not sure that he realized that he was on call that night, but he was about to find out. I took a deep breath, swallowed tears and interrupted him from his moment of solitude. We had a very brief conversation. In a nutshell, I quickly told him that my daughter was having surgery the next day. He asked her name. He then smiled down at her and touched her on her head.

What is amazing about the first instant and moments to follow my disruption into his evening,he did not flinch. He never seemed surprised for a strange woman and baby to walk straight up to him and ask for a quick prayer with them. I think that had I been in his shoes I probably would have thrown out a "Seriously?" Not one muscle twitched though.

I guess by now you know the punch line to this crazy scenario. That is right. The top of the page here says it all. But this really struck a cord. It did not matter who was coming to him - just why.

The most amazing blessing was spoken that night.

When I looked up, Matt was standing at the doorway with the most puzzled look. Pretty much, he thought I had lost my mind. Here lately Matt has been wondering when the last straw would come crashing down to break the camel's back. He thought that moment had happened some where between the check and the door! Can you imagine what the people right above us were viewing, or thought they saw? And yes, those above us were seated at the bar. They probably thought they were hallucinating.

The next morning as we were sitting 15 minutes into a surgery staring at a doctor who was only there to put tubes into Ivey's little ears, I thought about Father Peter. The doctor had pulled us from the waiting room into this small meeting room to ask permission to perform a tracheotomy on Ivey - immediately. I listened to Dr. Herrmann explain that Ivey could not be intubated for surgery because her airway was too restricted and at that point Ivey's lip repair might not be an option. Quote, "I am not asking you to perform the tracheotomy for the surgery today. I am asking you to save her life. If she were to have just a common cold, she will not survive. IT will kill her." We were left with no option.

Father Peter had left me with an email address. So I emailed him. He has been to visit Ivey several times during her stay at Scottish Rite. He is a wonderful man.

So I leave you with this. Think about it. Was Ivey truly blessed that night?
Was it a God Moment?

Gwen.