Yesterday something very scary happened to my friend Olivia while she was at work. She had a severe allergic reaction to the allergy medicine Claritin (ironic). She fainted multiple times, her throat closed up, she broke out into hives, and was rushed to the hospital. Last night she called me around 10pm and told all this had happened to her in the past couple of hours...

Thankfully, I'm not usually on the receiving end of calls like this and the experience made me realize something. Last summer when I was in and out of the hospital, Olivia offered many times to come visit and entertainment me to make the stay a little easier. I would usually decline the offer because I didn't want to burden anyone by me being sick. But last night I realized that when friends offer to do things like this...they really mean it, they want to be a good friend to you, and you are not burdening them. At the same time, after discussing the whole incident over brunch this morning, Olivia said that she now understood why I sometimes wouldn't tell my friends if I was in the hospital...I think it's safe to say that the next time one of us is holed up in the hospital, we'll call each other!