What Would You Do If I Sang Out of Tune?

Yesterday on the way home from work, I decided maybe I should stop by the hospital. I knew Dana already had about 10 people there, but I thought.. well.. she doesn't have ME there. And she thinks I'm pretty okay. Plus, if I was scared at the hospital, and Dana walked in, I'd be really happy to see her.

So, I went.

A.J. is just fine. Turns out, his appendix wasn't ruptured like they thought. He's actually on his way home from the hospital as we speak. The company is getting him cool stuff (instead of the usual flowers) and we're taking it to them today during lunch. I got to help pick what we're getting him, and it was way fun. Sadly, it's really easy for me to think like a 10-year-old.

But back to going to the hospital... My family is very private. That's how I grew up, and I've learned a lot about "not intruding". I'm always scared to call, scared to drop by, because I'm afraid I'm going to bother someone.

Yesterday I just decided to screw thinking that way, because sometimes a real friend is the one that walks in the door all "Yeah, I'm intruding because I love you. Deal with it."

I got to meet all of Dana & Brian's family, and I made Dana laugh when she needed it, and her family kept commenting how we were sitting over there laughing. But not in a negative way. I think they were glad someone was making her laugh. And really? It wasn't hard. It was maybe an hour or two out of my day. I know that little bit of time meant a whole lot.

When I got home, I wasn't halfway through dinner when the phone rang. I started not to answer it, but I did. It was a friend of mine who is going through something awful that it's just not my place to blog about. But as I listened to them cry, I thought "What if I hadn't answered?"

So many times God gives us the opportunity to be a good friend, but we pass it by. Because we're busy, because we're lazy, because we're scared.

I'm going to start to really try to STOP being those things, and to start being the kind of friend that everyone needs to have.

I hope I do okay.

~