When I found you I flipped my lid.
This weekend was pretty monumental, and highly rewarding. Up to this point, anyway. Spent Friday and Saturday in the Indy area. Where I BELONG.
I'm back stuck at home now. I need a job. Bad. So I can get out of here.
On Friday, I drove down to Indy. On the way there, Doug called me and told me that they had been in to see Gregor and they were getting ready to take the heart pump thingymajig out, but they said I might be able to get in to see him at some point later. He also told me that they told Gregor about how I said I wanted to break into the hospital and dress him up in a disco outfit... and said that he laughed and said it was creepy. I busted up laughing. "That's the reaction I was going for."
I got to Christina's around 3. We went to Best Buy, where I picked up a gift card, and then went to the hospital. We were kind of confused/lost, but someone ended up directing us to the room. There was a sign on the door... no visitors until 8pm. One of the nurses came through and told us we could go in at 5, though, so we went back down to the main entrance to wait for Candace and wait for 5pm to come. We ended up going exploring in the gift shop. One card prompted a VULGAR response from Christina that had us ROARING with laughter. I'm sure everyone around us was probably HIGHLY annoyed... but it was just so dang funny.
Then we went to the cafeteria, because Christina was hungry. So we got some food and ended up mocking the artwork on the walls and taking funny pictures with it, while people stared at us once again. We really know how to cause a scene.
After a while it was 5, so we headed upstairs. That's when my ULTRA nervousness kicked in, followed by Candace's as soon as we went through the double-doors. I didn't know what to expect, what to say, what to do... I've never visited someone I've known well in the hospital. For anything. Just my great-grandma. This was so much more important to me and so much harder to go through with.
We did go back, and we all sort of hovered around the corner from Gregor's room. We knew we needed to find a nurse, but we were MOTIONLESS. Christina kept urging us to move, but we didn't do anything. I felt like I was going to throw up, to be honest. My nerves were THAT bad.
A doctor (or male nurse?) came walking up and asked us if we were here to see Gregor, and of course we said yes. He was like, "Well, he's right in there, you can go on in." We just kind of froze. "Are you guys doing alright?" We remained frozen, so Christina took control. "They're nervous." "Oh, he looks fine. Everything's out of him; go on in, it'll be fine." Christina pushed me toward the door a bit, so I inched my way over with Candace behind. I looked in the room as the dude said something about him having some ladies here to see him. I recognized his mom walking toward me (from pictures I've seen of her) and took a step in the room. At which point everyone's like WHOA WHOA, USE THE DISINFECTANT STUFF ON YOUR HANDS! I felt like an idiot (for the first of many times), backed up, and used it. Nobody told me! Don't yell! Geez.
Thankfully, Gregor is THE MAN and lightened the mood back up with a quick "We have to make sure you don't have cooties!!"
Then we went in and MAN were we nervous. We had NOTHING to say (or at least not that we could think of). We just kinda stood there. His mom was urging me to say something. I'm not sure why me, but Christina said that's what she was doing. I wasn't even supposed to be doing the talking. We had agreed that Candace would do all of it, but it ended up being ALL ME. I was a wreck. I SUCK at picking topics for conversation... I'm only good at keeping them going after someone else starts it. Which in most cases with Gregor, he starts them. So it's fine. But obviously he wasn't in his usual state, so it was all me. And I REALLY struggled, to be honest. I came up with some REALLY awkward stuff that his mom didn't seem to appreciate AT ALL. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me. Could be paranoia, I guess, along with the fact that I make a TERRIBLE first impression. But in any case, I suck at this sort of situation. I tried my best, though. That counts for something, right?
Anyway, we talked about various things. Most of which I wrote about on the forum, so I'll copy-paste what I wrote there:
I got to visit him around 5-ish for a few. It was pretty great. At that point, he definitely knew that he'd been in the hospital for a while, because he mentioned that he missed LOST and The Office and would have to do some catching up as soon as he got out. He also knew about this forum, and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Joking around with me like always. It was soooo great to see him like that.
He did still have a FEW fumbles with his memory and he was kind of dopey from his meds, so he stumbled for our names and got kind of mad at himself when he forgot. Especially mine... he called me Carrie, and then when I told his mom that my name is Allison, he made some remark (kind of jokingly) about how he must have brain damage or something, because DUH, he knows who I am. (Is there a Carrie? Do I look like her or something?) We reassured him that it's fine, it's just the drugs talking. To that he said, "Yeah, drugs are bad for you." I didn't think of it at the time, but I should've said something about how this time he really IS on drugs, so I can make fun of him for being like Hyde for real.
Also, we brought up that we were messing around in the cafeteria, taking pictures of artwork on the walls. He asked to see the pictures, so I showed him. By the end of the conversation when we mentioned it again, he seemed really confused. We realized he probably forgot, so we tried to change the subject.
Anyway, point is, those slips were MINOR and the vast majority of our conversation was completely normal Allison-Gregor interaction. He made an off-hand comment about how if I don't have any topics of conversation, we can always talk about how awesome I am. And he brought up how he watched Drop Dead Gorgeous with me a few weeks ago, which made me REALLY happy, and clearly remembered one of the scenes. When I asked him if he remembered it (just in a normal way... like I would ask anyone if they remember a funny scene), he laughed at me. "Of course I remember it. We watched that scene twice."
A great moment... I told him that on the way to the hospital, my friend Christina and I passed a sign that said "Girls Expo." I said, "We were like hmmmm... Gregor, or the Girls Expo. Which is more important?" He was like, "You SHOULD'VE come to get me, and then TAKEN me to the Girls Expo." His mom and aunt seemed a bit put off by that topic of conversation hahaha which is to be expected. But we enjoyed it.
I also did take the opportunity to tell him about my idea for his future professional dancer fame. He said he'd probably have to undergo some training, because he doesn't have the skills. I said, "Oh... YA DO NOW!" "Oh, did they implant me with titanium during surgery or something?" "Of course. Didn't they tell you? You're like Inspector Gadget now." He seemed amused. And said that Inspector Gadget IS pretty cool. (But not the new-ish movie... just the old show. Of course.)
This probably seems like it was a really long time we were in there, but I don't think it was more than 5 or 10 minutes.
Right after we left, they were getting ready to move him to a regular hospital room. As he put it, he was getting his "sweet new digs."
Yay for Gregor.
-----------------------------------------------------
Something I didn't write about there, but that I want to go down on the record, is that I made some comment about Christina being cool, and he responded, "Well, I figured she probably is, since she's friends with you." Awwwwwww. I hope that wasn't just the drugs talking. :)
I think he was kind of surprised that I drove from home to see him. I didn't mention that I was in town for the wedding... because well, even if I hadn't been, I probably would've driven down on Saturday. So the main jist of the situation was there anyway. I hope it made him feel good. I like making people feel good.
Hmm... I can't think of any stuff off the top of my head that I left out, so ob-la-di, ob-la-da.
We took off, and I forgot to give him the card I brought, so I snuck back in and motioned for his mom to come to the door. She did, and I told her I forgot to give it to him and asked if she could give it to him sometime, like later... and she said OK. Then we did leave... Candace took off and Christina and I went back to her house, where we played Guitar Hero with her brother. It was my first time, and I don't remember what I got. a 70-something? Her bro was like... DANG. She's really good!!! haha So I guess I'm a natural. We did another easy song, and then we were messing around and I saw Free Bird, so I'm like LET'S DO IT. He's like are you sure? That one's really hard. I'm like BRING IT ON. So we played it. I got a higher score than he did. It was pretty amusing.
Then we, along with Christina's friend Brittany (?), went to Blockbuster and rented Sixteen Candles, then went to Subway to get some foodage, then went back to her house and ate/watched. After that movie, we watched Just Friends... and then they played Guitar Hero again while I wrote that update for the forum, and then we watched some Family Guy DVDs and then crashed. She woke me up around 10:30 and I showered/beautified. She went to work, so I just had the whole upstairs to myself and got around and then left around noon. Got to the church around 12:30, an hour before the wedding, so I went back to a DQ I saw for lunch and then got gas across the street and then went back at just the right time.
The wedding was beautiful and fun. The whole wedding party wore chucks with their dresses/suits. Kyle's were black with black soles, Anna's were white with white soles, and the rest were black with white soles. Super fun. When Anna walked down the aisle, she was crying and it was beautiful. I couldn't stop smiling and she just kept wiping her eyes with a tissue. After the wedding got on its way, I kind of cried like a baby. This is the first wedding I've gone to that really meant something to me. I arranged their first date, I've known Kyle since elementary school, Anna and I are soulmates (haha)... it was just amazing. Amy did a great job of doing my readings, even though she thought she didn't. I reassured her. I felt bad that I backed out, because she said she was really nervous about it. Sorry, Amy!! It really helped me to not have that stress on me, though. I've been an emotional wreck all week... it was nice to just get to relax and enjoy the wedding.
Then we went to the reception next door, and it was great too. Anna seated me at a table full of AU people, and I highly suspect that she seated me across from the pretty blonde boy ON PURPOSE. (You sly girl, you.) I had a good time with Leah (sp?) and Aaron, goofing off and taking crazy pictures. They're a hoot.
The punch was amazing... and it's similar to the kind we had at my cousin Wrennie's wedding that I know how to make, so I might try to do this one instead. Mmmm. I love punch. I also had my very first full alcoholic drink: a glass of champagne. And it was disgusting... but I FINISHED IT ALL. I set out to do it. Aaron was amused and kept teasing me about it haha. I'm like I WILL DO IT, just to say I did it. He kept trying to get me to down it in one huge gulp... I'm like NO WAY... I would like die. But I did it, and then I ran for more punch. "Gotta 'cleanse the pallette,' eh?" Mmmmm... punch.
Took a ton of pics, all of which are on facebook, so check them out if you want/are so priviledged.
I'm exhausted right now. EX-HAUST-ED.
Anyway, around 5 everyone was leaving, so I took some final pics w/ Kyle and Anna, wished them a happy honeymoon, told Anna to have fun having sex (she blushed... it was hilariously adorable and exactly the reaction I was going for), and took off. Got home around... I don't remember. 7?
The end.
I'm back stuck at home now. I need a job. Bad. So I can get out of here.
On Friday, I drove down to Indy. On the way there, Doug called me and told me that they had been in to see Gregor and they were getting ready to take the heart pump thingymajig out, but they said I might be able to get in to see him at some point later. He also told me that they told Gregor about how I said I wanted to break into the hospital and dress him up in a disco outfit... and said that he laughed and said it was creepy. I busted up laughing. "That's the reaction I was going for."
I got to Christina's around 3. We went to Best Buy, where I picked up a gift card, and then went to the hospital. We were kind of confused/lost, but someone ended up directing us to the room. There was a sign on the door... no visitors until 8pm. One of the nurses came through and told us we could go in at 5, though, so we went back down to the main entrance to wait for Candace and wait for 5pm to come. We ended up going exploring in the gift shop. One card prompted a VULGAR response from Christina that had us ROARING with laughter. I'm sure everyone around us was probably HIGHLY annoyed... but it was just so dang funny.
Then we went to the cafeteria, because Christina was hungry. So we got some food and ended up mocking the artwork on the walls and taking funny pictures with it, while people stared at us once again. We really know how to cause a scene.
After a while it was 5, so we headed upstairs. That's when my ULTRA nervousness kicked in, followed by Candace's as soon as we went through the double-doors. I didn't know what to expect, what to say, what to do... I've never visited someone I've known well in the hospital. For anything. Just my great-grandma. This was so much more important to me and so much harder to go through with.
We did go back, and we all sort of hovered around the corner from Gregor's room. We knew we needed to find a nurse, but we were MOTIONLESS. Christina kept urging us to move, but we didn't do anything. I felt like I was going to throw up, to be honest. My nerves were THAT bad.
A doctor (or male nurse?) came walking up and asked us if we were here to see Gregor, and of course we said yes. He was like, "Well, he's right in there, you can go on in." We just kind of froze. "Are you guys doing alright?" We remained frozen, so Christina took control. "They're nervous." "Oh, he looks fine. Everything's out of him; go on in, it'll be fine." Christina pushed me toward the door a bit, so I inched my way over with Candace behind. I looked in the room as the dude said something about him having some ladies here to see him. I recognized his mom walking toward me (from pictures I've seen of her) and took a step in the room. At which point everyone's like WHOA WHOA, USE THE DISINFECTANT STUFF ON YOUR HANDS! I felt like an idiot (for the first of many times), backed up, and used it. Nobody told me! Don't yell! Geez.
Thankfully, Gregor is THE MAN and lightened the mood back up with a quick "We have to make sure you don't have cooties!!"
Then we went in and MAN were we nervous. We had NOTHING to say (or at least not that we could think of). We just kinda stood there. His mom was urging me to say something. I'm not sure why me, but Christina said that's what she was doing. I wasn't even supposed to be doing the talking. We had agreed that Candace would do all of it, but it ended up being ALL ME. I was a wreck. I SUCK at picking topics for conversation... I'm only good at keeping them going after someone else starts it. Which in most cases with Gregor, he starts them. So it's fine. But obviously he wasn't in his usual state, so it was all me. And I REALLY struggled, to be honest. I came up with some REALLY awkward stuff that his mom didn't seem to appreciate AT ALL. Yeah, I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me. Could be paranoia, I guess, along with the fact that I make a TERRIBLE first impression. But in any case, I suck at this sort of situation. I tried my best, though. That counts for something, right?
Anyway, we talked about various things. Most of which I wrote about on the forum, so I'll copy-paste what I wrote there:
I got to visit him around 5-ish for a few. It was pretty great. At that point, he definitely knew that he'd been in the hospital for a while, because he mentioned that he missed LOST and The Office and would have to do some catching up as soon as he got out. He also knew about this forum, and seemed to be in a pretty good mood. Joking around with me like always. It was soooo great to see him like that.
He did still have a FEW fumbles with his memory and he was kind of dopey from his meds, so he stumbled for our names and got kind of mad at himself when he forgot. Especially mine... he called me Carrie, and then when I told his mom that my name is Allison, he made some remark (kind of jokingly) about how he must have brain damage or something, because DUH, he knows who I am. (Is there a Carrie? Do I look like her or something?) We reassured him that it's fine, it's just the drugs talking. To that he said, "Yeah, drugs are bad for you." I didn't think of it at the time, but I should've said something about how this time he really IS on drugs, so I can make fun of him for being like Hyde for real.
Also, we brought up that we were messing around in the cafeteria, taking pictures of artwork on the walls. He asked to see the pictures, so I showed him. By the end of the conversation when we mentioned it again, he seemed really confused. We realized he probably forgot, so we tried to change the subject.
Anyway, point is, those slips were MINOR and the vast majority of our conversation was completely normal Allison-Gregor interaction. He made an off-hand comment about how if I don't have any topics of conversation, we can always talk about how awesome I am. And he brought up how he watched Drop Dead Gorgeous with me a few weeks ago, which made me REALLY happy, and clearly remembered one of the scenes. When I asked him if he remembered it (just in a normal way... like I would ask anyone if they remember a funny scene), he laughed at me. "Of course I remember it. We watched that scene twice."
A great moment... I told him that on the way to the hospital, my friend Christina and I passed a sign that said "Girls Expo." I said, "We were like hmmmm... Gregor, or the Girls Expo. Which is more important?" He was like, "You SHOULD'VE come to get me, and then TAKEN me to the Girls Expo." His mom and aunt seemed a bit put off by that topic of conversation hahaha which is to be expected. But we enjoyed it.
I also did take the opportunity to tell him about my idea for his future professional dancer fame. He said he'd probably have to undergo some training, because he doesn't have the skills. I said, "Oh... YA DO NOW!" "Oh, did they implant me with titanium during surgery or something?" "Of course. Didn't they tell you? You're like Inspector Gadget now." He seemed amused. And said that Inspector Gadget IS pretty cool. (But not the new-ish movie... just the old show. Of course.)
This probably seems like it was a really long time we were in there, but I don't think it was more than 5 or 10 minutes.
Right after we left, they were getting ready to move him to a regular hospital room. As he put it, he was getting his "sweet new digs."
Yay for Gregor.
-----------------------------------------------------
Something I didn't write about there, but that I want to go down on the record, is that I made some comment about Christina being cool, and he responded, "Well, I figured she probably is, since she's friends with you." Awwwwwww. I hope that wasn't just the drugs talking. :)
I think he was kind of surprised that I drove from home to see him. I didn't mention that I was in town for the wedding... because well, even if I hadn't been, I probably would've driven down on Saturday. So the main jist of the situation was there anyway. I hope it made him feel good. I like making people feel good.
Hmm... I can't think of any stuff off the top of my head that I left out, so ob-la-di, ob-la-da.
We took off, and I forgot to give him the card I brought, so I snuck back in and motioned for his mom to come to the door. She did, and I told her I forgot to give it to him and asked if she could give it to him sometime, like later... and she said OK. Then we did leave... Candace took off and Christina and I went back to her house, where we played Guitar Hero with her brother. It was my first time, and I don't remember what I got. a 70-something? Her bro was like... DANG. She's really good!!! haha So I guess I'm a natural. We did another easy song, and then we were messing around and I saw Free Bird, so I'm like LET'S DO IT. He's like are you sure? That one's really hard. I'm like BRING IT ON. So we played it. I got a higher score than he did. It was pretty amusing.
Then we, along with Christina's friend Brittany (?), went to Blockbuster and rented Sixteen Candles, then went to Subway to get some foodage, then went back to her house and ate/watched. After that movie, we watched Just Friends... and then they played Guitar Hero again while I wrote that update for the forum, and then we watched some Family Guy DVDs and then crashed. She woke me up around 10:30 and I showered/beautified. She went to work, so I just had the whole upstairs to myself and got around and then left around noon. Got to the church around 12:30, an hour before the wedding, so I went back to a DQ I saw for lunch and then got gas across the street and then went back at just the right time.
The wedding was beautiful and fun. The whole wedding party wore chucks with their dresses/suits. Kyle's were black with black soles, Anna's were white with white soles, and the rest were black with white soles. Super fun. When Anna walked down the aisle, she was crying and it was beautiful. I couldn't stop smiling and she just kept wiping her eyes with a tissue. After the wedding got on its way, I kind of cried like a baby. This is the first wedding I've gone to that really meant something to me. I arranged their first date, I've known Kyle since elementary school, Anna and I are soulmates (haha)... it was just amazing. Amy did a great job of doing my readings, even though she thought she didn't. I reassured her. I felt bad that I backed out, because she said she was really nervous about it. Sorry, Amy!! It really helped me to not have that stress on me, though. I've been an emotional wreck all week... it was nice to just get to relax and enjoy the wedding.
Then we went to the reception next door, and it was great too. Anna seated me at a table full of AU people, and I highly suspect that she seated me across from the pretty blonde boy ON PURPOSE. (You sly girl, you.) I had a good time with Leah (sp?) and Aaron, goofing off and taking crazy pictures. They're a hoot.
The punch was amazing... and it's similar to the kind we had at my cousin Wrennie's wedding that I know how to make, so I might try to do this one instead. Mmmm. I love punch. I also had my very first full alcoholic drink: a glass of champagne. And it was disgusting... but I FINISHED IT ALL. I set out to do it. Aaron was amused and kept teasing me about it haha. I'm like I WILL DO IT, just to say I did it. He kept trying to get me to down it in one huge gulp... I'm like NO WAY... I would like die. But I did it, and then I ran for more punch. "Gotta 'cleanse the pallette,' eh?" Mmmmm... punch.
Took a ton of pics, all of which are on facebook, so check them out if you want/are so priviledged.
I'm exhausted right now. EX-HAUST-ED.
Anyway, around 5 everyone was leaving, so I took some final pics w/ Kyle and Anna, wished them a happy honeymoon, told Anna to have fun having sex (she blushed... it was hilariously adorable and exactly the reaction I was going for), and took off. Got home around... I don't remember. 7?
The end.