Resolve.

I was in a meeting at Robs' elementary. We were discussing ears... and tails, and paint, and how to waterproof all of the aforementioned items, when I got a text from Steve that said, 'Duck out and call me.' It couldn't be life threatening, I thought... because who puts all the letters in all the words if you're balancing life and death? But my mind was going wild, so I excused myself to the hall- where there was approximately zero service. I stepped towards a door and got the same result. I walked down the hall and out the main doors, where Steve answered on the third ring.  In the background I could hear Erikboy bellowing. Everything was fine, he said, with the exception of Erikboy's eyebrow. He'd had a run in with the leg of the couch... I stepped back inside and excused myself as soon as I could. 

On our way to the doctor's office Erikboy was not too excited. We walked inside and he slunk behind my leg. We sat in the lobby and he asked when we could leave. The doctor came out and he started crying. But I'd planned on all of it... Erikboy and I have a history with doctor's offices. What I didn't plan for? Having the doctor and nurse straight from heaven above. The doctor came out early to look at Erikboy's eyebrow. He told us all about his grandson (who is almost exactly the same age) and peppered Erikboy with all kinds of questions from kindergarten to favorite games. Afterwards he told us the cut would only need glue, and said the nurse we'd be seeing in only a few moments was really, really nice. When the nurse came out, Erikboy started crying again, but she took us back to the first room, where the doctor popped in with a smile and said to Erikboy, "Remember me?" After a blood pressure cuff, and a brief health history, the nurse brought in a toy moose and Erikboy and I both moved to the exam table. The doctor cleaned the cut and asked a couple questions to get Erikboy talking (Favorite ice cream? Sister's names? Halloween costume?) while he slowly pushed the separated skin back together. (Things like this intrigue me. Someday I'll be a physician.) But before Erikboy could really expound on the last question, everything was back in place and the doctor was offering Erikboy first pick of a secret stash of stickers. "Don't tell anyone about these" he whispered, as we followed him down the hall. "These ones are much cooler than those in the basket." 

We said goodbye to the doctor, goodbye to the nurse, picked up the moose, grabbed two extra stickers from the basket by the door, and made our way to the car. Erikboy couldn't wait to show Robs and Squish their souvenir stickers. And the moose? We named him Doctor. 

The whole visit made me appreciate, for the millionth time, genuine, wonderful, people. The doctor and the nurse didn't have to be wonderful. It was after five o' clock- and I'm sure they'd been working all day... but they chose to. It made my day and it left quite an impression on Erikboy. I left their office with new resolve, to work at being a more genuine, wonderful person. 

People make this world a better place.