Emergency is in the eye of the beholder

I am often, lately, left wondering what exactly would be considered an emergency? You see, different people view that word differently. For example, some people believe that a runny nose constitutes a trip to the Emergency Room. I am not saying they are wrong, I am just saying that to some, a runny nose would not be considered an emergency.

Why all the emergency questions? You see, I can send a Red Cross message to the husband in the event of an emergency. If warranted, according to who knows who, he could be sent home in an emergency.

This week I have had two different emergencies. The first was that the lightbulb blew in the hallway upstairs. DQ has to have the light. None of the electrical outlets in her room work and I refuse to call maintenance to fix them until she cleans her mess. I was left to change the lightbulb myself. I am a little short. I drag a chair upstairs, climb up and start turning the fixture thing. I turn and turn and turn. It doesn't come off. What the hell? I then just pull. Praying that I am not showered in slivers of glass. It eventually comes off. I put in the new lightbulb and can't get the thing back on there. I push and push and push. It wont work. All of this while standing on my tippy toes on a chair with my arms stretched as far above my head as I can reach. After about 20 minutes, I got the stupid thing on there. I am now unable to walk normally or hold my head in a normal position. Pretty sure I should have just sent a Red Cross message that my husband needed to come home and replace the lightbulb so that DQ could get some stinking sleep!

The second emergency occurred last night. You see, after Christmas we rearranged the living room. This required relocating the surround sound speakers and such. Last night, the girls and I settled in to watch a movie. The sound was messed up. We could hear the music fine, but the words were all muffled. I tried to figure out the problem for 30 minutes. I was disconnecting and reconnecting various speaker wires. Nothing was solving the problem. When I decided 20 minutes in that I gave up and there would be no movie watching, DQ said she could deal with the muffled voices. I could not. I continued working at this for 10 more minutes. I finally gave up. I gave each little speaker wire clamp thing a good push, and ta-da! We had voices. Again, I am pretty sure that the husband's presence would have resolved this emergency much more quickly. I'm just sayin'.

I suppose I could just look at it as look what I was able to do all by myself. Even if it took forever. Even if I was crippled for a few days. Even if I am sleep deprived. Even if I miss the husband more than anyone could ever know. Even if...