Part II

When it rains, it pours, and also sometimes snows.

I spent all of Friday night in the hospital with a close friend who had a really bad accident with a handheld circular saw. I was very glad to be able to be there for him, and to stay by his side until he went into surgery, but it was overall a very nerve wracking experience. I generally don't take to blood and gore all that well (unless it's part of a slasher flick, for some reason) but I held it together while I was with him in the ER (some of his frat brothers were there also, which was really good) and then pre-op just fine. I waited until he was finished in surgery, and called his parents, and took care of everything just fine...then I got home and everything hit me, hard, everything from the past 10 hours in the hospital to all the shitty grades I'd gotten the past week and a lot of just HUGE frustrations with life in general. I called my parents crying and generally freaked out about life, and they actually just dropped everything and drove up to visit me Saturday evening. It was such a kind, caring, gesture...things like that make me remember what family means, and make me realize how truly lucky I am to have such loving people in my life.

Saturday and Sunday I also spent recovering from getting really sick. My allergies have been playing hell with me for a few weeks now, and the night without sleep really did me in. My parents brought me some food before taking off again Sunday early afternoon, and again...it meant a lot that they would just drop everything going on in their own busy lives just to have two meals with me and make sure everything was okay. That's love.

Today was nightmareish in another way, with the shootings at VT. I still have a really sick feeling in my gut about it all. I'm glad that everyone really close to me that goes there is okay and still alive. It's terribly surreal to hear about something on the news and be so connected to people who are right there, in the middle of it. It hit me today that with a student population of 22,000 there are a LOT of people who are going to be affected, a LOT of people who are going to feel just as connected to it as I do...it seems like most college kids are going to be affected in one way or another. There are kids I barely know that lost someone close to them, and it's just enough to make one really stop and pause, and perhaps pray. It's so disgusting, and so disturbing, and seems so close that it's as hard not to think about as it is to keep mentally returning to. Being at the ER this past weekend put a lot of images in my head that I'd rather not have right now (nothing to do with the friend that was actually there, just thoughts about pain and injury and hospitals and bleh)...

I've got a 4 hour shift for Carnival on midway, from midnight to 4am, and then a few hours of sleep, and then three hours of classes, maybe more sleep, a trip to the grocery store, and an ice cream social. Hopefully it's just be a calm, normal day.

And if you could, even if you don't normally go to church or whatever...say some prayers or offer some good thoughts for all those kids at VT.