MATTHEW McNUTT

Noah, our six year old, is a trooper. He gave me a lesson in perspective today. For the last year and a half or so he has had to go to the hospital every month for bloodwork. Since the fall, he has also had to have a weekly injection at home.

So today was his bloodwork day. And it coincided with a shot at home, and he knew he was going from one to the other. On top of that, they’re running some extra tests so they took more blood than normal. I was thinking about how unfair it was for him.

So I was pretty shocked when we were in the car leaving the hospital, on our way home to another shot, and he said, ‘daddy, this is my luckiest day!’ I asked him why it was lucky.

He gave me a list. He was going to get a Shamrock Shake which normally isn’t at McDonalds and it’s his favorite (he gets a milkshake after bloodwork). Not only did he get four stickers from the nurses like always, but he also got a silly band. He got to play a new game on my iPhone (Puss ‘n Boots Fruit Ninja). And the emergency helicopter took off from the hospital while we were waiting on the curb to leave which meant he got to see it fly. ‘It’s a lucky day, daddy.’

I was pretty quiet while I drove to McDonald’s. I was all choked up and my vision was blurry. I had a list of all the injustices he was suffering and he had a list of all the special things he got to do.