The Little Things

When I get ideas for my writing, it’s never convenient. What usually winds up happening is that I’ll scratch it down on a napkin or a gas station receipt until I get to where I can properly record it. Whenever that is.

While going through some of my papers that have been horribly neglected over the last couple of months, I came across something I had written many months ago. Bryan and I had gone to Baptist for his normal transplant labs and did something that I didn’t want to forget at the time because of the sweetness and simplicity of it.

We went back to the lab. Bryan signed in and we sat down in some chairs that he picked out. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, a look of total bliss on his face.

“This is my favorite chair here,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

“Here. Put your hand against the wall.” I placed it on the wall next to where his head had been. “Feel that vibration? I can come in here and lean my head against the wall and get a head massage.” He put his head back against the wall with his eyes closed and a smile on his face.

I absolutely loved it. In that moment, I realized that Bryan didn’t just mindlessly go through life at 90mph, never stopping to smell the roses. He did stop. And in those moments where life forced him to pause, he took advantage of it, finding joy in the little things that made him smile.