SERVE

by: Alex Coffin

Early 2011 was a rough time for me. I was in the hospital three times almost back to back. The first was a stomach problem, the second was a very serious operation on my liver, and the third was a hernia operation that was made necessary by the liver operation. The liver operation was so serious that when my wife, Sonia, asked the surgeon if he saw any recurrence of the other stomach problem, he answered, “Mrs. Coffin, I didn’t have time to look around. I was trying to save your husband’s life!”

As I was going under for that hernia operation, I looked around a room full of doctors and nurses. They were all necessary because of other possible problems associated with me having an Afib heart. I am, by nature, not a worrier and am continuing in that direction as a get older…and older. But all this had my attention…Would I wake up?...In what condition?....

As I slowly came awake from the surgery, I saw one thing VERY clearly. I saw nothing else, but a large screen with one word written on it in capital letters – “SERVE”! It captured my attention and I have striven to follow that admonition since – not always well, not as much as I should, but I continue to try.