Arguing with God!!

We lived in two houses in Fillmore. We didn’t have a lot of money so we often played cards or other games to entertain ourselves. At the second house, we had a small garage on the house where we placed a makeshift basketball hoop. It was at 8 feet so playing on it felt like a real NBA player! Neighborhood boys would come to play basketball until late into the night. I learned it didn’t take money to for entertainment nor to meet the neighbors!

One night, Nicole panicked after we went to bed. With the house having only Nicole and I in it, I would place my gun on the top shelf of the closet. My wife and I were talking in bed, she became terrified. I tried to figure out what was going on as she pointed towards the closet. She said, “there’s a giant mouse in the closet!” I did not see or hear anything.  She pointed to the top shelf and said she could see red eyes. I laughed as I pulled the gun from the closet. The rear sights glow in the dark. The sights appeared to be glowing eyes, but it wasn’t a “radioactive” rodent. We got a fantastic laugh out of it!

Nicole grew up wanting to do one thing as a career and one thing only. I had met no one who was so determined to reach it. Nicole knew she would be a nurse. She took classes in high school preparing her to become a nurse. She became a CNA, EMT, and was on a list for the nursing program at UVSC (which is now UVU). Our plan when accepted to the nursing program was for her to go. In the meantime, Nicole could get a job at the hospital in Fillmore and ride on the ambulance in Fillmore.

Working in a small town hospital means being involved in tragic moments of your neighbor’s lives. A lady in town had a baby with several medical problems and Nicole took care of the baby and grew close to both mom and the baby. One day, we loaded up our truck with plans for a weekend away. Just before leaving, the ambulance pager went off for the address of small baby. She completed her time on call but told me to go to the ambulance shed because she was going on this call. Though I protested, Nicole told me I did not have a choice, so I took her to the shed. She left on the ambulance and I drove over to the hospital to pick her up. I watched the doctors and nurses preparing for the ambulance to arrive and knew something bad had happened. Nicole came in and was crying. We got in the truck to leave in silence. Nicole was upset. She then began yell at God asking why something like this would happen to a baby and this family. She yelled it was not fair and was mad at God. Nicole and I discussed God. Though the incident was tragic, Nicole and I grew closer together over the incident. When we mention her arguing with God, we go back to that moment.