Day 11: Momentary Panic

Today my answering machine recorded a collect phone call that seemed to have been initiated by my husband, and after my initial bewilderment, I experienced a few moments of panic.  (Actually, I experienced about 23 minutes of panic!)

You see, my husband is still supposed to be in blackout, and he is not allowed any contact until his two-week blackout period is complete, and yet, it appeared that he had tried to place a collect call to me.

My first thought was, "Has he left the program?"  I immediately placed a call to the director of the program, which went straight to voice mail.  Not good.  "Oh my, " my thoughts race, "are they out looking for him...?"

I spent the next twenty minutes wringing my hands, wondering where in the world my husband could be, and if he could truly be AWOL.  Then my cell phone rang.  It was one of the interns from the treatment center, and before he had time to utter a proper greeting, I blurted out,

"Has my husband escaped...?!"

Stunned silence was followed by, "Uhm, no...he's right here."

"Oh," I replied (blood pressure decreasing by several points), "but he tried to call me...".

"Uhm...no," replied the voice on the other line, "I tried to call you."

"Oh,"  I exclaimed (blood pressure going up several points), "is everything okay?!"

"Uhm, yeah.  It's just that this week is visitation, and we had a staff meeting, and because you guys live so far away, we're going to allow you to come visit even thought he won't have completed blackout yet."

"Oh, okay.  Thank you!"

"Yeah, but your husband wants you to bring some things when you come..."

"Oh, okay...so your calling to give me a shopping list?"

"Yeah.  Are you ready...?"

"Uhm, yeah..."

It's nice to know that I'm still needed...even though I'm far away!