My trip to the hospital

I’m going to try to keep my friends anonymous, but for those of you that know me, or live in the area I do, I’m sure know about a friend of mine who was in a tragic car wreck this Thanksgiving. She was speeding up one of her favorite hills to hill-top, and saw a car on the other side, over-corrected, and the speed made her car flip about 6 times. If she wasn’t wearing her seatbelt, she would be dead right now. Instead, she’s paralyzed from the shoulders down, and has been in the hospital since Thanksgiving. I’m thankful she’s alive, and making a better than expected recovery.

I finally got the cojones to go to the hospital today and visit her. I had an idea in mind of what I was about to see, but it would not prepare me well enough. I arrived at the hospital half-an-hour before visiting time, and I saw a friend of hers and mine there that I had not seen since he dropped out his sophomore year (1 year ago). He had just heard about the incident today and came as soon as he could. I was sitting around in the waiting room, and there were another 20 people waiting to see her. There have been people closer to her than me that have been there every day since the incident, and the feel of the room was interesting. It was an odd mix of anxiety, worry, hope, and various other mixed emotions. I talked with all my friends there and her family, there have been hundreds of people that have seen her since the accident, and it was truly amazing.

Once the half-hour was up, I finally got to see her. It was an immediate shock. I could not believe this was the state of the girl I sat by in contemporary issues and sat with at lunch. It was mind-numbing, and hard to keep myself together. She can talk, and has some arm movements, which is amazing in itself, but despite this recovery, it was a hard sight to see. I came out looking as if I saw a ghost. What allowed me to keep my composure was what a friend of mine told me that’s closer to her, and has been with her every day. “I could barely look at her myself when she first came in. What makes it easier for me is not that you get used to it, but rather you can actually see each time that she’s getting better, and has only continued to.” So, I’ll be going back tonight.

This has forced me to really look at my life go, “Wow, I need to get my shit together.” I’ve done so now. I’ve already taken care of things I swore I would months ago, and I’m finally back to working on this blog page after a 2-month absence. This is your one chance at life. There is no before or after life, only life. Here and now. Understand that anything can happen. Do all that you can while you can. I think I’ve got a better understand of this now. I will do my best to live for myself, and for her and any one else that can’t live their lives like they want to.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next post.