Of Course…I’m From Seattle.

This story comes from Duane Mullen. Duane is one my Bible Study leaders in Seattle. Recently, he was been in Mississippi helping with the hurricane relief. A few weeks ago, Duane’s grandmother fell and passed out on her back, vomited and aspirating some of that into her lungs causing pneumonia and collapsing one lung. Duane left his position in Mississippi to go be with Grammy. The following is an email Duane sent out a couple days ago that I think is too cool not to share. Duane has given his permission for me to edit and reprint:

My grandmother is in the hospital and she’s improving every day but the hospital is really frustrated with her recovery. It’s just not going as fast as they had hoped. She was off the ventilator for 20 minutes today and they think she should be able to breath on her own for at least 4 hours by now. Rough stuff.

We, about a week ago we got to the hospital as normal and there is a girl in the waiting room that looks like she’s about 16, maybe 18, but she doesn’t look any older than that. She is in a wheelchair and you can see that her face is a little battered. She’s surrounded by friends, all women, that are about the same age. They are all trying to comfort her, but she is crying every second, almost at the drop of a hat. She was in a car accident and the other person who was in the car with her, whom I assume was a young teenage guy driver, is in critical care. He’s not regaining consciousness and things look pretty grim.

Everyday after that we see her in the hospital. We can see her improve and everyday she is able to get out of the wheelchair and walk on her own a little more. The crowd of girls around her is changing to some girls and some guys and daily they are getting a little older.

Finally, most of the young people are gone. She comes to the same waiting room and there is an older couple there. Probably in their sixties. They spend time with her but don’t act like her parents.

Today when I got to the waiting room at the hospital there was the older couple, the girl was not there, but there was an average looking man about 40 years old. I recognize him but dismiss it being who I think it is because while this is a great regional hospital, nobody who’s not from here would know that it even existed. We made pleasantries as anyone would in a casual passing.

I go in and see my grandmother and come back out after several minutes. We’re trying to give her some rest. My grandfather and my aunt are both in with her.

I go sit in the waiting area and the older couple and the man are still there and the young girl is back again.

The man is trying to be encouraging to the older couple and they’re talking medically about how the young teenage guy is struggling with blood sugar levels and being diabetic. The man says that a sense of humor is important and that he’s going to go back one more time and give his friend “shit” for lying in bed.

He then says that he needs to get back to Seattle, but wanted to see him one more time before heading back.

Now I know for sure.

They ask him if he’s got a show in Philadelphia and he says “No, If I did I would give him shit for sure for not being there to run my lighting.”

He gets up with the young girl and goes back to see their friend. Another old woman, about 70, looks at me and exclaims, “DO YOU KNOW WHO THAT WAS!?”

I say, “Of course…. I’m from Seattle.”

She says, “That was Dave Matthews…you know, Dave Matthews Band”

I reply, “Yes, I know. I was trying to figure out what he was doing here of all places.”

The older couple explain that their son was in a car accident with “Courtney” the younger girl. She was driving the car and they made a left turn and were hit by a patrol car. Their son is Dave’s chief lighting engineer and Dave flew coast to coast just to see him.

Dave comes back in to say good bye to the family. I let them have their space but a woman comes around the corner who is visiting another patient and she stops dead in her tracks and says, “Oh My God… that looks just like…”

I say, “That’s because it is.”

She didn’t believe me enough to hear me, so I repeat myself. Quietly so as not to make a spectacle of the man.

Dave leaves and the old man comes over and talks to her and explains what he was doing there.

Wow. I think that’s so cool. I can’t speak from experience, but I would imagine that there are not many artists who would fly coast to coast just to see some light tech in the hospital. Perhaps if it was their stage manager or something, but a light tech? That’s very cool an awesome testament to just how down to earth Mr. Matthews is.

As a side note, Duane is looking for a job. I would imagine he would be looking for something in the Seattle area, so if you know of any open positions, send me an email (andrew [aatt] remove.this andrewferguson [ddoott] net) and I’ll be sure to send them on to Duane.

[tags]Dave Matthews, DMB, hire[/tags]