Deja Vu- Calling 911, again

This morning I had an incredible experience.

I woke up at 7:30(which is way earlier than I usually do on my day off,) and heard a small, "Help."
It was so quiet, I wasn't positive I'd even heard it. I wondered for a moment if I'd dreamed it. I then felt prompted to look out the window because someone needed me. I'd never had a prompting like that before so I slowly went to the window. I didn't see anything strange so I closed the blinds. I then felt another prompting to look again. This time, I noticed a tall ladder propped up against a neighbor's house and at the base of that ladder was a man. The man was lying on his back with a backpack on and seemed to be awake. It kind of looked like he was working on a car because he was right in front of an SUV. A second passed and I decided he had to be the one who cried help because there was no one else around.

I threw on some sweats and a ratty t-shirt and sprinted across the street. I asked if he'd fallen (which ended up being a 15+ ft fall) and he said he had. He was clearly stunned and scared, and so was I. Unsure how hurt he was I didn't know if we needed an ambulance or not. Then he pulled his hand from his jacket and it was smeared with blood. That was it. After a couple minutes of discussion I decided it would be best to call.

The EMTs came only moments later and whisked him off. I felt odd just standing there watching (especially realizing that I was in sweats with no shoes, and probably had mascara smeared across my face.)
The paramedics didn't say much to me. The man's wife arrived and thanked me and that was it.

Now the Deja Vu part:
My dad fell off his roof a year and a half ago and I was the first one to get to him. He was lying in bed (it's amazing that he could get inside with all his injuries.) When he saw me come in, he lifted his head off the blanket. To my horror, there was a bowling ball sized blood stain where his head had been resting. That was when I lost it.

You always wonder how you will react to something like that. I didn't do so well, but then, it was my dad.

My sister and Brandon came over to help and an ambulance was called. He ended up breaking multiple ribs, cracked 3 vertebrae, permanently lost his sense of smell (from hitting his head on the concrete,) and various other small injuries. I still get pretty emotional when I talk about it.


But I'm really thankful that I was listening (in more ways than one) this morning, and I'll remember this experience for the rest of my life.

p.s. Thanks Liz(my sweet neighbor) for bringing me a coat and shoes while I was standing with the paramedics. It was really cold out there, but I didn't want to leave him.

And p.s.s. The man had one broken vertebrae and a scraped hand. Nothing too serious. He should be fine. Thank goodness.