This is My Confession

Here lies a truth of which I am wholly ashamed.
There have been times in my life I thought I had all the friends I needed. In fact, I know I have said this out loud. It probably went something like, "I'm not really in the market for new friends" or "Nah... I've got all the friends I need at the moment." I was probably laughing when I said it, but I know myself well enough to say that there was probably truth behind that laughter.
However, I'm not laughing now. I'm actually looking back in shame.
I came to this realization through a conversation my mom and I were having yesterday. We were talking about all of the phenomenal people we have come in contact with throughout the ongoing process of her surgery and therapy, and I was blindsided by the recognition that took place in my mind. Without the encouragement, openness, understanding, tolerance, patience, and positive energy of the people we have come into contact with, this experience would have been unbearable, and discouragement would have rained down upon us.
We have met cheerleaders and encouragers at every turn, however, and I credit much of the success of the past five weeks to them.
These people were merely doing their jobs, you might say. However, if any of you have had even the most minimal of experiences with the health care industry, you know that a nurturing bedside manner is not a prerequisite for entering the field. Just like most other arenas, sour attitudes, unhelpfulness, bitterness, and resenment abound. Instead of being the norm, however, these troublesome individuals ended up being the anomalies, the exceptions to the most pleasant of rules.
We have been blessed with some of the most skilled doctors, caring nurses, knowledgeable and capable therapists, and, of course, steadfast friends and family. The majority of people we come have come into contact with over the past five weeks are people we have never seen before, and they don't know us from Adam's house cat. That hasn't changed the fact, however, that they have given us their best and their all; they have dared to care in a world where all too often caring falls by the wasteside in exchange for an extra dollar or an immediate gain.
Now, back to my original confession. Where do I get off saying that I am not in the market for new friends? Just who, exactly, do I think I am? I have met tens if not hundreds of new people in the past weeks, and the kindness and helpfulness of each of them has impacted my life in a positive way. It is an honor and a privilege to now call them my friends. My mom was simply a name on a chart and I her emergency contact person. We are no one special and deserve no special treatment. The individuals we have come into contact with, however, have treated us as if we were their only patients, as if they had all the time in the world to answer our multitudes of questions, as if they were there to help no one but us--even though each minute they spent with us was one more minute away from someone else. I consider myself blessed to have been in their presence, and I will take a piece of each of them away from this experience with me. I will always remember them fondly, and I will forever look to them for inspiration.
I know I will glean many more lessons from this experience, but I have already learned a big one. There are new friends to be had at every turn and friendliness truly can change the world, one person at a time. They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, ages, and walks of life; not being open to these new relationships only proves detriemental for me. I am the one missing out. My thinking has now been forever changed, and I am ready and waiting for any new friends who will have me.
It looks as though Blanche DuBois really did have it right when she said in A Streetcar Named Desire, "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." I should have known better than to go against the likes of Tennessee Williams.
Or Vivien Leigh, for that matter.