Ode to Joy

I should be writing a paper, but I'm avoiding it. Which means I am living up to my tagline's promise--I write here when I should be working.

Fall break has officially come and gone. It was, in a word, uneventful. But nice, nonetheless. Friday I went out with my best friend from high school and she let me unload all of my emotional frustration on her over some strawberry margaritas at Chilis. Afterwards, we decided we didn't feel like thinking anymore so we went back to my parent's house and watched Twilight. Absolutely no thinking necessary. Saturday was spent watching football. 11 straight hours of football. I did not even get out of my pjs. Today, I woke up and headed straight to Shepherd Spinal Center in Atlanta, which is the topic of the blog post for the day.

I have mentioned before that Michael (aka eb1, aka "Bagman", aka "Gooch" [a name I will never call him cuz it grosses me out for some reason]) is in Shepherd Spinal doing his rehab after his motorcycle accident. The approximately 3 of you who read this have certainly seen my constant updates and statuses (stati? status'?) over the past month or so in regards to his condition. He is, without a doubt, one of my dearest friends and up until last Sunday, I was in a constant state of emotional wreckage for 3 straight weeks.

Basic picture from my seat on the bench:

Michael is probably the only guy on the planet that I don't have to walk on eggshells around. I can get mad at him for stuff, disagree with him vocally, slap him for being an idiot, cry over something stupid in front of him, etc, etc. and I never have to be ashamed for it. He loves me unconditionally, and I love him for it. He's awesome. He's also the type that I could go for a year or so without any sort of communication, and as soon as we hang out it's like a day hasn't gone by. So, this past year has been just such a year. I was busy working, he was busy doing his thing; we hung out like twice, but our schedules were just crazy. Well, in July he and I found ourselves in a similar post-relationship phase, so we met up at Taco Mac to just talk about our lives and all that. For the first time in about 5 years, we had some time to actually hang out on a regular basis and be honest-to-goodness friends again (not that we weren't, but only seeing someone once a year makes it hard).

So, just when things were all cool and we were making plans to hang out and get big groups together to do stuff...I get the text from his younger brother, Scott, on my way to Athens for the UGA/Arizona State game. I was an absolute wreck from then on out; even though there was nothing I could do to help and I knew it. I kept in close contact with Ellen, his girlfriend, over the next week or so and began praying like I had never prayed before that, though we know it's a very long shot, he may walk again one day.

However, through all of this, I think my biggest fear was that the goofy, ridiculous, totally lame and funny side of Michael would be lost somewhere as a result. And, though I kept in close contact and Ellen said he was fine, I still couldn't believe it until I saw it for myself. He was given the transfer from the tiny hospital in Southern Alabama (he was on his way to Panama City when he had the accident) up to Shepherd's Spinal Center in Atlanta, and we found out that Sundays he was open for visitors.

He is exactly, exactly, exactly the same. I know that if I were in his situation, there's no way I would be able to handle things the way he is handling them. The doctors and nurses have noticed, too- he said today that they say he's in a remarkable mindset: "You seem to have totally grasped this reality but you are still so hopeful." And that, my friends, is Michael in a nutshell.

Last week was spent joking around, and he and his dad has us all in stitches. Today, he was cracking jokes and threatening to run over our toes if we stepped out of line. In the cafeteria, his dad challenged him to an "obstacle course" by pushing tables out of the way and putting random chairs around. Michael shifted his electric chair into 4th gear and whizzed past us and around the chairs in expert fashion, leaving us all in tears we were laughing so hard.

Oh, and when his dad buzzed his hair last week, he definitely cut out a heart shape into the back of Michael's head and is pretending that it happened naturally because he's been laying down so much. Brilliant.

Anyways, the point I'm trying to get across, other than just how awesome Michael really is and how anybody who gets to spend time with him is very lucky, is that he has a spirit that I admire and strive for. It's an infectious, all-consuming, from the inside out kind of pure joy that I can barely grasp, even in the best of situations.

Keep praying for him and his family, and for his rehabilitation. Cuz he says if he's still in a wheelchair for next Halloween, he wants to go as Christopher Reeve and be as unpolicitally correct as possible....Lord help us all. haha