Thursday, August 29, 2013

Being Of Service

The other day I was so tired my bones hurt. It had been a busy week in the land of The Superfoxxx. I was an overworked, tired woman trying to take on the world. Just then my phone rang. It was my boss Bruce. He wanted me to deliver a singing telegram to Sloan Kettering. Apparently, the woman I was delivering to was going through chemo and her friend in another city couldn't be there to support her. So she wanted to make her friend laugh and decided to send a black gorilla.

I always like delivering to Sloan. It's one of those places where everyone is positive. They have to be. It's a cancer hospital. I went up to the front desk and asked where the chemo room was. As to surprise the woman under the treatment, I went to the bathroom and changed into my gorilla costume. Out in my get up, I asked where the chemo room was. The doctor, who saw me, laughed and said, "This way."

I entered the chemo room, and the woman I was singing to was under the drip. Her friends there to support her were laughing like hyenas when I entered in the black gorilla costume. I sang "You Are Great," Don't Worry Be Happy," and gave the woman a little cheer. She was flattered and embarrassed. As her friends laughed, she said, "I am so happy I am not in the waiting room right now. I want to kill Amy." And then she started laughing. There were plenty of photos and laughs. And then a nurse came in and snagged me to go into the room of another patient. I gave that patient a good luck fist bump.

Both these women will hopefully go into remission. And part of their experience at the hospital, which is stressful, will be that they received a singing telegram. They will remember it as something positive mixed in with the terrifying diagnosis of the Big C and all the pain, worry, and HMO drama that came with it. They will remember how for as rotten as things were at that moment, they got to smile.

The wonderful thing about seeing success in my career is that people tell me they enjoy my book and my work. But sometimes, when things get stressful with my new schedule, I lose site of my original purpose. I decided to pursue the path I did because I enjoy making others laugh. I enjoy making the world a better place.

While my job is to be fabulous, I cannot lose track of my original mission.

That is to be of service.

Love
April
I Came, I Saw, I Sang: Memoirs of a Singing Telegram Delivery Girl
www.aprilbrucker.com

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