He's Alive!

It has been about a year since my good friend, Mac, came home from Afghanistan. I have known him for over half my life, and you can probably imagine how I felt the entire time he was away. Every two months, I would send him care packages filled with magazines, toys, games, and of course food. As much as I enjoyed putting the packages together, I was delighted when he came back to Canada. Mac's family lives in Calgary, but he reported -- at the time -- to the military base in Shiloh, MB. When he called me from Afghanistan to tell me he was coming home, he asked if he could visit me first, and fly to Calgary the following day. I was delighted Mac thought of me right away, yet also slightly confused. Shouldn't his family take priority? I refrained from asking him the question, and told him I would be delighted to have him as a house guest.

Mac showed up on my doorstep at about 7 pm in early December. He was tired, he was hungry, and he was very, very quiet. After the hugs had ended, Mac plopped down on my couch... and just sat. He is normally a very outgoing, energetic, smiley sort of guy, and his behavior confused and frightened me at first. There wasn't even the slightest hint of a smile on his face. What was going on? It was after sitting quietly for a moment that I understood his silence. I also realized why he wanted to visit me before seeing his family. It was actually quite obvious. He was in shock. Mac had been living in a war zone for over six months. Now here he was, sitting on my couch again. He probably had absolutely no idea how to deal with the change. And, seeing me first would give him some time to unwind and come back to reality before reuniting with his family. Of course! It made perfect sense. I immediately adjusted my attitude, checked my excitement, and allowed Mac an opportunity to take in his surroundings. My mom came home a few moments later, and the three of us gradually worked our way into a conversation. The only downside was that Mac still had not smiled a real smile.

At about 10 pm, the phone rang. My mom reluctantly got up to get it, while Mac and I continued our conversation. Then, from the other room, she yelled "WHAT" very loudly into the receiver. My attention was instantly diverted towards her phone conversation, and I heard her ask "which hospital" to the caller on the other end. Hanging up the phone and re-entering the living room, she announced that Chris (my brother) had broken his collar bone, and she was needed at the hospital. Giving Mac a quick hug goodbye, she was out the door, leaving the two of us to our own devices. And still no smile on his face.

Roughly 45 minutes later, just as Mac and I were about to call it a night, the doorbell rang. I turned on the porch light, and discovered my brothers friend, Mark, standing on the steps. Behind him was a large van filled with boys, all of whom were staring guiltily at me. Mark didn't say anything, but handed over my brother's video camera. He wouldn't make eye contact, and quickly ran down the driveway and into the waiting van. Starting up the engine, the van screeched its tires and sped away down the dark street. I was left standing at the front door with a video camera in my hand, and absolutely no idea what was going on.

As I walked back into the living room, I started to think. The caller on the phone earlier had been one of my brother's friends. He told my mom that Chris had an accident. But he did not specify what type of accident. Then, an hour later, a van full of Chris' friends drop off his video camera. Hmmm.... I wonder... I sat back down on the couch, camera in hand, and explained my thought pattern to Mac. It took us roughly 30 seconds to decide that whatever my brother had been up to was probably on that camera. We also decided that it was not an invasion of privacy to watch it, and activated the playback feature.

I can honestly say that while watching the video of my brother breaking his collar bone, I laughed harder than I have ever laughed in my entire life. Maybe it was because it was my brother being injured, or because the actual stupidity behind the injury was so overwhelmingly ridiculous. Either way, I laughed. A lot. But the greatest part of all was that Mac was sitting beside me, LAUGHING with me! I had spend the better part of the evening trying to get him to smile, and now he was laughing so hard he was crying. We played the video about ten times in a row. When that became boring, we played it in reverse. Then, slow motion. Over all, we probably watched that video for an hour. It was great...

I guess the point i'm trying to make is that sometimes people have a hard time adjusting to certain situations. Sometimes, they even lose the desire to smile. But, when the time is right, everyone comes around. I initially decided to write this post after watching the Sex and the City Movie for the hundredth time. In it, Miranda tells a jilted Carrie that she will laugh again, when something is really, really funny. She was right. Carrie did laugh again (even though i'm not going to repeat here what happened to make her laugh). The same thing happened with Mac. He just needed that one, hilarious moment to bring him back. I'm not saying that I am glad my brother injured himself, but I was very happy to see my friend smile again.

Unfortunately, my computer wouldn't allow me to add the video to this blog. But, here's the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZ0UV6jUY9U. My brother is the one wearing the white hat...