A Greenville Elevator Story

Well, we made it to Greenville, and to a hotel that we are going to stay in for more than 15-29 hours. So that's exciting!

This evening, after getting settled in for our 4 days at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Greenville, my good friend, Nick Hullinger came to pick me up. Nick and I were roommates in Northern Virginia right after I moved to the DC area and have a great friendship that has spanned a Mardi Gras in New Orleans, September 11, 2001 in Northern Virginia and the MADNESS of Duck Beach over Memorial Day. It's always great to come to Greenville to see him and his wife, Julie and to catch up with them. And it's VERY important to point out at this point that Nick is one of the nicest people I have ever met - and he can start a conversation with ANYONE at anytime. He loves talking to people. This trip finds Julie in the hospital in Spartanburg, because she is expecting twins (she is at 28 weeks) and they are wanting to come out. SO - she's in the hospital working with the doctors to keep them IN a little while longer.
After Nick picked me up, we headed back out around their house and grabbed some dinner at a local Greek-Italian Restaurant that, although I can't recall the name right now, did use the word OLIVE in it's name. (The Green Olive? The Fresh Olive? The Greek-Italian Olive? I'm drawing a blank!) The place was good, but the main reason for going there was that Nick was given SPECIFIC instructions on bringing something back to the hospital for Julie: pita, tsatziki sauce and pickles. LUCKILY - this OLIVE place filled all 3 needs.
Nick and I headed to the hospital, and got on the elevator to head up to Julie's room on the 5th floor. Just as the doors were closing, a man and woman stepped on, and Nick, being the friendly guy that he is, asked them, 'What floor do you need?' The woman became the voice for them both when she simply said in her southern drawl, '2nd floor, please.' Well, knowing the hospital, Nick registered the 2nd floor to be the maternity ward...where you go to see the new babies! So, being the affable guy we spoke of earlier, he said, 'SOMEBODY had a baby!' The woman quietly turned to Nick and, to set the record straight, said, 'Actually someone in our church had a baby...' Then there was silence for a few seconds, and the woman spoke again, morosely saying, '...and it probably isn't going to live.'

cricket

cricket

cricket

And then the doors opened and they stepped off the elevator. Trying to salvage some level of grace, Nick waved to them and said, 'Well...I hope things....turn out......ok......'

And then the doors closed.

So SURE, I feel bad for the lady from the church who had a baby who was probably not going to live....but don't you think that was a LITTLE much to share with 2 complete strangers on the ride up ONE floor on an elevator at a regional hospital? Couldn't she have just told us it was a church lady who had the baby and left it at that? And really, since it was just one floor, couldn't they have just taken the STAIRS?