In which we discover all the adventures that occur at 2:00 in the morning

I was just drifting off to sleep when my phone rang at 1:06 this morning. One o'clock in the morning is a very magical time when you have been in bed for only 10 minutes and the only reason you were in bed is because your eyes wouldn't stay open one more minute. I was very confused. I thought perhaps someone had died or something. No one calls me at 1:00 in the morning . . .

Until last night.

I had been pondering the notion of dropping my friends because most of them don't have any idea what friendship means. I was going to drop them all because if you want to be friends with any of them, you have to be friends with all of them. It's much easier to drop them all than to have to be friends with the ones who just want you around so you can do things for them. Take them places. Be the person who makes the group an even number so they can break up into teams. They don't want you for you. They want you for what you can do for them. It's very very difficult to be friends with these people.

I woke to the sound of my phone ringing. Half awake, I jumped out of bed, grabbed the phone and when I said "hello" no one said anything. I put the phone back and crawled back into bed. Two seconds later, the phone rang again, and when I answered, I heard Jaclyn's distressed voice saying, "I'm sorry for calling so late but you are the only person I could think of who would know what to do." More confused than ever, I replied, "Jaclyn, hon, what's wrong?" Jaclyn had gotten a piercing on her upper ear a week earlier. She had bumped it and it had started to bleed. She said that it had been gushing for 10 minutes and it wasn't letting up. I told her I'd be right over. I put my clothes back on, grabbed my keys and jacket and ran up the flight to Jaclyn's room.

I found Jaclyn nearly hysterical with blood dripping from her ear. I asked her if she had a towel or washcloth and I went to get cold water. We put the cold cloth on it, which did absolutely nothing. Then I ran around trying to find someone who had an ice pack. The ice pack didn't help either. Off to the emergency room . . .

I waited for about an hour before the nurse came and told me that Jaclyn wanted me to come back. They had taken the ear ring out and it had almost stopped bleeding, but the area was very swollen. The nurse asked me if it had been swollen before, and it hadn't been. (I had looked at it on Saturday when we were on our way back to school.) I think it was swollen because it was irritated, not because it was infected. It was just so sad! Jaclyn's vitals weren't so good. Her blood pressure was extremely high and heart rate was over 100. When the doctor and nurse left, I told Jaclyn that her blood pressure and heart rate were way too high and that she needed to calm down a little. I said, "Take slow, deep breaths. Pretend like you're having a baby." Jaclyn laughed and said, "If I was having a baby, I'd really panic!" The doctor came back and told Jaclyn that they were going to put a pressure bandage on her ear and he explained that the only way to do it was to put a bandage on the ear and then wrap an elastic bandage around her head. Jaclyn became very distressed again and said, "How long do I have to wear that?" The doctor and I both assured her it would only be for a few hours, until it stopped bleeding completely. He also told us that the reason it had bled so much was because the piercing had probably gone through a major vessel or artery (not a major one like the jugular or corotid, but a larger one in the ear) and the ear ring was keeping it from clotting. They checked Jaclyn's vitals again before we left and they were back to normal. When she stood up, she looked like she was going to faint, but we managed to get her to my car and then from my car to her room without any problems. No one had any ice packs, so we improvised and got a bag and put snow in it. Then I came back to my room and went to bed.

Forty-five minutes later, Jaclyn knocked on my door and asked for Tylenol. Uh-oh! I forgotted!!! But it was ok. I gave her my bottle of Tylenol and then went back to bed.

We had to go back to the doctor this afternoon and he told her that it looked fine and removed the other ear ring she has.

Now, my question is, how can I just drop all my friends when they keep breaking themselves? I can't. I have to fix them because if I don't, then no one will, and that would be sad.

~MK
P.S. Never Been Kissed is the bestest movie. Everyone should see it.