Just me and my bud vase

This week I made a special trip to Worcester to visit a friend in the hospital.  Not record-breaking news, but it does take some minor managerial skills to fit this kind of an extra-curricular trip into the agenda.

 (as a side note, I cannot say the word agenda without thinking of my dear friends the Parsons, who dubbed me "A-JEN-da" one summer, because I helped put together the plans for a multi-family camping trip to upstate New York) 

I was on a timetable, and on the road to the hospital by mid-morning.  My favorite Relief Society President friend gave me a sweet little bud vase recently. I thought I would pay it forward and bring it with me.  Along the way, I spotted a row of trees with super cool red berries hanging on them, and decided they would be the perfect thing to put in the bud vase.  I pulled over, snipped a branch and continued on my way.  Red berries made me think of Christmas music, and I was momentarily sad that I didn't think to stash a few Christmas CDs in the little car.  Vanessa is already supplied with seasonal tunes, but she went off to Nashua with Mr. Dub this morning to get new tires.  I'll bet he wasn't listening to holiday tunes. 

I digress.

In no time my red berries and I made our way to the third floor and wandered the halls looking for the room number I had been given by a mutual friend.  After walking in a circle twice, I stopped at a nurse's station to ask for help. 

Summary: my friend was not a patient in that hospital.

No worries, I thought. There's another hospital only a few minutes down the road. My little bud vase and I were having an adventure. We parked, made our way into the second hospital and repeated the hall wandering.

Result: Strike two.

My window of opportunity was closing fast with one hospital left. I made a few phone calls, found her at the hospital I didn't visit, jotted down her phone number, made a note to call her on the drive home and met my sister-in-law "Aunt Candy" who treated me to an extended birthday lunch.

I became a little self-conscious of my bud vase offering after a gaggle of nurses gave it the eyeball in two different hospitals.  Nobody said anything--just the eye. I decided to take it home and enjoy it instead of worrying what others might think.  It reminds me of my quest to spread a little cheer. I laughed at myself, love the red berries and have come away feeling the most cheery of all, I think.