Steve Burningham

Steve Burningham

Posted at 11:13 PM on March 02, 2009

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I was 17, running away from home/being pushed out of the nest, whateva - when i got the bright idea to go back to my hometown, stay with my Grampa.

There for a week, Gramps wakes me up @ 5 a.m. I'm thinking "No one told me they started this early around here" when he asked "Will you take me to the hospital?"

Wow, just wow. I got a pair of pants and a t-shirt on as I'm looking for keys. A minute later, I'm screaming down to the freeway, asking Grandpa "which exit?"

Turns out he needed his gall bladder out, ASAP. I got paged over the intercom, Grandma is right behind us - in an ambulance, she suffered a minor heart attack.

As the morning turned into day, my life was turning to shit. Couldn't get worse.Or so i thought . . .

My extended family showed up, and as the 'admitee' for Gramps, i was pretty much the only one they let in to ICU at first. i was coming out of intensive care into the waiting room when my uncle Gary says "We need to call your dad," (ok, but being 400 miles away i'm thinking that won't help much) "and ask him what to do with you!"
My aunt Sherrie says "Steve, what happened?" when Gary chimed in with "He's stressed them out, that's what happened!"

I retreated back into ICU. i probly could've used some intensive care myself, when a nurse gave me a note from my aunt Dorothy.

It simply said "Steve, ... everything will be ok, and i'd like for you to come stay with us".

I spent half my senior year, recovering from the incident about the same time as my Grandparents, with the Snyders'.

At my cousin Joe's wedding reception, i had the chance to tell Dorothy how much that meant to me.

Steve Burningham