time of need

Last night one of my girlfriends* cut her fingers while washing dishes. Said girlfriend is almost as accident prone as I am, and is always cutting, burning, injuring herself in the kitchen. I wasn’t there, but apparently this cut was deeper than usual and gushing blood. Her boyfriend, who should be used to her hurting herself, got all freaked out. You’d think she shot herself in the stomach and was on the verge of dying. He was running around like a headless chicken, screaming frantically. (OK..a) I don’t know how a headless chicken would scream, but I’m not going to change that description, cause I think it’s funny; b) again, I wasn’t there, so I don’t actually know how he was reacting, but again, I think that description is funny, so I’m going with it. Plus, I don’t actually think it’s too far off based on my seeing his past reactions to said cutting, burning and injuring herself.) She had to calm him down and tell him what to do. Rationally, it would seem almost better if she was by herself, because then she could have calmly looked up a local urgent care and driven herself there, rather than trying to calm down her freaked out beau. But, on the other side, maybe his freaking out helped her calm down. She was able to focus on him and calming him down, rather than on the piercing pain in her thumb, and the gushing blood. It’s a nice distraction. He texted me to let me know what happened. I said I would go to the ER with them, but he said it was ok. To be fair, I’m horrible around blood, and hospitals in general, so I don’t know that I would have been much calmer. I wanted to be there for my friend in her time of need. Well, that and I wanted to be at a place where there were potentially hot doctors. (I kid. I kid.) But, it got me thinking about how that might be what I miss most about being single. Yeah, having a guy around in general is nice. Cuddling on the couch. Making dinner. Doing all that couply stuff. That’s all nice and fun. But, it’s having someone around when you’re hurt or in trouble is what I miss. I like having someone there to fix the problem. Or at least be with me when I fix my own problem. If I had cut my finger, I would have had to go to the ER by myself. I mean, I have friends who would go with me. And I’d call my mom, and she’d run down to me as fast as she could (my mom would actually break the sound barrier getting to one of her children who needed her. Before I’d hang up the phone, I’d hear her in the hospital hallway “Where is my baby?!” She’d probably beat me to the ER, and I live 5 minutes away, whereas she lives an hour away. That’s how fast my mom would be there.) But, while I appreciate friends and family, it’s different having a boyfriend with you. It’s a different kind of comforting. When I burned my leg last month, it would have been cool to have a boyfriend to hold my hand and tell me it’s going to be ok, or to bandage me up. I couldn’t even tell the Marine, cause I didn’t want him to worry about me while he’s gone. “You burnt your leg on your laptop?! How am I going to fight in a war and not worry about you hurting yourself on something that is safe for 99% of the population?!” It’ll be a funny story for when he gets back and sees the scar and asks what happened. “Funny you should ask…” (Ok, that’s assuming we hang out when he gets back. Again…hopeful, not expectant.) I spoke with my friend this morning, and she said that her boyfriend was great at the ER: he distracted her while they sewed up her finger. I guess she was trying to watch?!?! He distracted her and forced her to not watch. And he held her hand the whole time. Sweet! She had to get 7 stitched. Not sweet. Oh, but she also said the male nurse was super hot and that the guy who bandaged her hand was really hot. I knew I should have gone to the ER with them! I mean…strictly to support and comfort my friend. That’s the only reason. No ulterior motives. I swear.

*To protect the identity of my accident-prone friend, I am not using her normal moniker.