12:34am

My cell phone rang last night and woke me up.The time said 12:34am.

This can't be good, I thought.

The display said JORDAN ORVAM Cellphone. Don't ask me why my son's full name is in my address book when he is the only Jordan that I know.

Me: Jordan..it's so late..what's up hon?
Jordan: Mom...I'm in the hospital
Me: What?? What happened? As I'm saying this..I'm immediately reaching out for my laptop to see about booking a flight.
Jordan: I think it's a dislocated shoulder..I don't know yet..they're going to take x-rays but you can tell from my shoulder that somethings wrong.
Me: Oh God..Jordan
Jordan: Mom...it's not like I planned this
Me: I know honey..I know. Just call me back when you get your x-rays.

My sleepless night started. I sat up watching TV waiting for my cellphone to ring. While I did I recalled the times when Jordan had either gotten sick or had hurt himself. The midnight trips to ER"s were always horrible. What is it about kids that they always seem to get sick at night?? I can recall the times we would go in a cab to the ER and the waiting..and waiting..and waiting. Only to be seen by an exhausted ER doc that would spend a few minutes with your child and off you went with prescription in hand and hoping for the best.

I had dozed off..and at 2:30 my phone rang again.

Me: So what happened?
Jordan: I broke my collarbone
Me: Oh my God!!!
Jordan: The doctor said there's nothing I can do..they put my arm in a sling. I'm kinda high right now..lol.
Me: You know you shattered your collarbone when you were a baby
Jordan: What?? Why didn't' you tell me that?
Me: Well you should've called me when you were with the doctor!!
Jordan: Oh..I know..sorry. Okay..I'm going back to campus now.
Me: Okay..call me if you need anything
Jordan: I will

As a parent you never want to get that phone call in the middle of the night. It's never news like "Hey I won the lottery". It usually involves jail, injury or sometimes both.

I slept fitfully last night. I kept waking up from what I thought was just a bad dream. I know in theory that he's going to be okay. This is a first for me. Being away from my son when he's hurt. It's just a new stage I have to go through as a mother of an independent young man. I hate it.

I once had a high school teacher say to our Psychology class, "Parenthood is a role from which there is no escape. " In this case I'm not looking to escape from but rather run to..but I don't have to..not now anyway.

Thank God.

UPDATE: My son informed me yesterday that his shoulder is not healing properly and now requires surgery.
Surgery!!!!