Two and a half weeks ago, on the day of Ming’s second scoliosis operation, my oldest friend, Tony, came to visit us in the hospital. Ming was in one of those gowns they put you in before surgery and he was waiting in a very small room with several other gowned people. He had been told to remove his underwear but, as the gowns are so see-through, he hadn’t done so yet and his bright orange jocks were quite visible.
Well, just before Tony arrived, Ming, thinking he might be called at any moment, went to the bathroom and removed the jocks and handed them to me all scrunched up to put in my handbag. “It feels really weird, Mum!” he said to me/to the whole room (even when he speaks quietly his voice booms!) He had been given a premed. of some sort which had disinhibited his already uninhibited personality.
A few minutes later, Tony texted me to say he was in the hospital cafe so I went downstairs and brought him back to the little waiting room to see Ming. As soon as he saw Tony, he stood up and shook hands, then said, “My genitalia are exposed.”
Tony’s jaw dropped slightly but he is used to Ming’s idiosyncratic statements so he just said something like, “Thank you for that information,” and I cracked up laughing when I saw the other people in the room smiling at this odd exchange.
Yesterday, Ming and I had lunch with Tony in the town where we always meet, halfway between where we live and Perth, where Tony lives. It was wonderful – Tony can make me laugh like nobody else, and I love watching the way he and Ming banter. It actually struck me, at one point, that Tony is like a second father to Ming, especially when Ming jokingly said “Thanks, Dad” when Tony paid for our lunch!
Thanks, Tony – your friendship is a gift.
This is us yesterday.
jmgoyder 