The strange people I meet while working!

I work part-time as a phlebotomist, (I'm the one who draws your blood) So I see a lot of the same people when they come to get their blood levels checked for medications or whatever. Anyway, there is this one guy who comes in about once a month or so. He's quite tall, quite thin and very bald. He always wears scrubs, so I assumed he was coming straight from his job in something medical. His scrubs, however, are never just the typical solid colors you see most men wear, but have cartoon characters or race cars on them.

I never put much thought into this gentleman other than to mentally write him off as a weirdo, based on his choice of scrub tops, and eery habit of staring me in the eyes.  The other day, however I must have been in an unusually charitable mood because I actually engaged in friendly conversation with the man. What I discovered during our conversation was a whole new way of looking at life.

As I gloved up and prepared to poke Mr. Cartoon scrubs, he told me about the motorcycle accident he was in a few years ago.

"Yeah, the other guy got the ticket and I got life support." He said. "Since I woke up from the coma, I've just been so happy to be alive that nothing really gets me down."

Geeze, I was totally bummed out for an hour today because the pharmacy was out of peanut butter m&m's.

The gentleman went on to tell me that once he recovered well enough to leave the hospital he never took another moment for granted. After discussing it with his wife, he went back to college to work on a nursing degree. He now works at a Veterans hospital helping soldiers recover from their war injuries. I'm betting that his inspiring recovery story and genuine sunny disposition is better than any medicine he can dole out to these guys.

I asked him what the secret to being happy is and he told me to "love life". "Get out there and enjoy every moment. Play with your kids, take them on trips and experience new things together. Create that bond with them and raise them right because they are our future."

His words really made me think about how much time is wasted every day with mundane activities that really don't matter and all the moments that could matter slipping past me. How much time do I waste for instance, fussing over the toys on the living room floor when baby and I could be playing on the living room floor. How many times have I raised my voice to one of my older children when a soft tone would have been just as effective.

Mr. Cartoon scrub man will probably never know how much his words affected my mentality. He'll probably never know that because of him I was happier today and really enjoyed just being home with the children, cleaning off the inch of dust that collects on the top of the refrigerator. Mr. cartoon scrub guy will never know that its because of him that I remembered to love life.

I will leave you with the last thing Mr. cartoon scrub guy said as he left my lab and I arbitrarily told him to have a good day.

"They're all good!" He said, with a smile.

They're all good.