a break in the routine

A friend had surgery Friday afternoon. I picked him up at the hospital and stayed the weekend to help him out while he was recuperating. Food, meds, liquids, pillows to elevate, all that stuff. Brought a care package of magazines, graphic novels, and movies galore [the kind that require no engaging o' the brain, like "Bedazzled", "Bubba Ho-Tep", "Runaway", "Frankenhooker", and my personal favorite kick-ass movie, "They Live"]. A trip to the emergency room Friday night when the pain got out of control, and the corresponding visit to the 24-hour pharmacy. Twenty-pound bag of ice to fill the very-much-needed ice packs. Watching Stargate episodes. Feeding the cats. Lots of talking, very engaging tangential conversations [my favorite kind]. Met his kids, who were awesome energy bundles. Pizza from The Garrett [yum]. Trips to the store to get food 'n' stuff. Before I left today, I did dishes and put them away, cleaned the cat box, gathered trash and took it
out...all the random daily stuff that he hopefully won't have to worry about for at least another day or so. And I enjoyed it muchly.

I've been spending so much time in my own head lately, juggling pros and cons, paths and choices, future plans and possibilities and plans for those possibilities, getting locked in my own brain and bouncing around in there like a super ball. This weekend gave me a chance to put that aside for a bit, to focus on something completely external for a while. I really enjoy doing things for people I respect and care about, and it's fun to try to anticipate and provide for things they might need. It lets me use my empathy, my MacGuyver skills, my 'yeah-but-what-if' tendency, stretch my planning/thinking/staging/anticipating muscles...and it's nice to use those to hopefully make things a little easier for a friend.

So while I'm sorry that he has to go through all of this, I'm thankful that he let me help. Because it ended up helping me, too...