Oranges were on special at my supermarket today so I decided to purchase, tossing the bag into the trolley.

This evening they caught my eye and my taste buds went into overdrive anticipating the juicy delight!

Standing at the bench, kitchen towel on shoulder, off came the ends with the paring knife, then straight through the middle, into quarters, through the pith and finally cut into bite size portions. Baby tuned into every move from the dining room perched in his strap -on chair munching on a snack.

MP3 blaring in the background, I popped the first piece of orange into my mouth. Talking to myself  pondering the day, I missed the step where the chewing takes place and the orange piece seemed to get sucked straight down my throat sticking mid way, full flight in my esophagus!

Gulping for air, I leaned into the sink to dislodge the blockage. Opening my mouth to take a breath of air, a strip of air squeezed into my lungs.  Ex-haling, was painful! My chest and throat throbbed with intense pain!

Desperate to take the next breath, I began patting my back, right hand over my shoulder furiously patting away, tears starting to form in my eyes..

Pat, pat, pat.. Nothing was moving!

Heaving for breath, I drew in to take some air in. Squeezing between the lodged orange some air managed to get into my lung cavity!

Starting to freak out, I called out to my children who were perched in front of the television in the sunk in lounge, glued to the box, all 3 of them, waiting out the time for their hair nit treatments to work their magic and for Mum to comb out the final rinse.

No one responded! Dragging myself into the lounge room, I flung myself onto the floor on all fours, desperate to get another breath in… help me I’m choking!

Husband high in the sky, flying home from a mine site, these kids were my ticket to freedom!!

The whole time I was mindful of Holy Spirit and was telling him to please sort this out!

Nathan comes over to me. Close to my face.

“Son!, hit me hard on the back! Hard son, HARD!”

Our 6 year old is a strapping lad, all heart and very strong! He punched me and punched me and punched me, over and over and over. Hannah joined in too, but she was more gentle and less enthusiastic about the whole process.

Liquid foam from my esophagus came out of my mouth and my throat and chest began making this gurgling sound as a tiny amount of air managed to syphon its way out and in. The feeling in my chest was hard and heavy and restricted.

I got up and pulled Nathan with me into the kitchen, desperate to try some water to dislodge the blockage.

The problem was, not enough air was coming out to take a sip of water to swallow..

Nathan hit me hard as I bent right over and in that one lucky last punch the orange segment popped out!

Relieved and free to breathe, I wiped my eyes, picked myself up and attended to the screaming baby. I looked into Nathan’s eyes and thanked him for saving my life.

“You’re a real- wild -life warrior son. You saved your  Mum’s life tonight!”

He went to bed six feet tall. 🙂

Thank God for strong, emotionally intelligent sons!