Tuesday, September 18, 2007

In Case of Emergency, Please Call...

...No one.

I was at work today, filling out the annual update on our "on the job emergency" contact forms and it occurred to me. I don't have an Emergency Contact.

Sure, my parents can fill the secondary slot, but they're at least five hours away should anything happen. There is now officially no one in town whom I trust enough, care for enough, and whom I believe would care enough and know enough about me to be listed as my primary contact.

The one who filled that slot for so many years is now 500 miles away starting over. The friend who took his place last year - now 800 miles away. And the one who just two weeks ago could have filled that void in a pinch, now no longer speaking to me.

No wonder I've felt like an interloper for a while now. No wonder I feel this city is so foreign. It's all making sense now.

4 comments:

kenju said...

I hate that you feel it is so foreign, since I have felt at home here for so long. Surely there is someone you can list as your contact. I'd volunteer, but then we've never met.

ProducerClaire said...

That's the sad part. I've lived in my town long enough that I consider it my second home, but right now, life is changing. No strike that. Like is UPHEAVING all at one moment. And for that reason the city seems unlike the one I've lived in for so long. I now see the unwelcoming side of it that forced my friends away. Belong somewhere and you are good. Fall out of favor, and you are a pariah.

Tony Gasbarro said...

I think that, if the person who no longer speaks to you was someone who you would otherwise trust, put his/her name on that form. You might still mean enough to him/her that he/she would handle the immediacies involved in an emergency, at least long enough for your parents to get there.

It's worth a try.

Chris Benjamin said...

ouch. that's a tough situation. i do hope you find some good community soon, there or elsewhere.

i'm in a new place now myself, trying to find some good people to connect with. it's hard work, but in the end it's worth it.