Another Friday evening spent at Riley Hospital.

As some of you already know, Friday evening my 13-year-old niece Laura was rushed to Riley Hospital in an ambulance. Laura had been at the Brickyard Festival at the Knights of Columbus on 71st Street and Keystone Avenue with her friend Mikaela and Mikaela's sisters, mother, and grandmother. Laura, who like many other members in her family suffers from social anxiety, was uncomfortable being around the large group of people at the festival. She was handling things fine until she ended up standing too close to a grill and began coughing because of all of the smoke. When Laura couldn't breathe, she started to hyperventilate, and then she had a panic attack. The paramedic said she was shaking uncontrollably and fading in and out of consciousness (however, she does not recall this - she swears that she was merely dizzy and needed to sit down, and that she was fully aware of what was happening the entire time). Laura's stepfather rode with her in the ambulance to the hospital while my sister followed behind. I arrived at the hospital shortly after everyone else, having been at home when my sister called to tell me Laura was being taken away in an ambulance. We were at Riley until about three in the morning, but Laura seemed to bounce right back and is doing well now. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who was praying for Laura on Friday night. I am extremely thankful that it wasn't something more serious!

Manners Suck.

I was in Dover, Delaware recently, visiting my best friend Tory for her birthday. Naturally while I was there, we had to stop in at Dunkin' Donuts to purchase several of the delightful morsels. As we entered the Dunkin' Donuts on North Dupont Highway, there was a sign posted on the door. It said, "Please complete cell phone calls prior to placing your order." I found this to be extremely amusing, so I made Tory get her camera out of her purse so I could take a picture of the sign. I find it comical yet oddly disturbing that customers talking on their cell phones while simultaneously placing an order at the counter of Dunkin' Donuts has become a large enough problem that the manager, or whoever is in charge of the establishment, has had to place a sign on the door in an attempt to eliminate this rude behavior. Now, I myself am one of those individuals who is attached at the hip to their cell phone - but seriously people! Has our world really become one that is completely devoid of any and all manners?