When I was a kid, my brother made friends with a guy named Lucas. He was extremely shy, kind of the opposite of me. However, Lucas and I had more in common than I realized. Lucas was institutionalized when I was in high school. It wasn’t really on my radar but my brother visited him in the psychiatric hospital to play games with him (this was where he learned how to play Munchkin).
When I entered college I was hospitalized several times as they tried to figure out what was wrong with me. They came up with a diagnosis of bipolar one disorder and a dozen prescriptions to help deal with it. Well, Covid rolled around and we got word that Lucas was in the hospital again. I don’t know Lucas’s diagnosis or really anything about his medical history. But I wanted to help. So we mailed a care package to the hospital that included markers and crayons since the ones at hospitals were usually used up or broken. Because it was Covid Lucas could not have any visitors, not even his parents. I couldn’t imagine that. The isolation, the fear, the loneliness. I wrote Lucas a letter letting him know I was thinking of him. A while later, I got a postcard that remained unsigned.
It was Lucas thanking me for thinking of him. He said he left the markers at the hospital for everyone to enjoy. He referenced an inside joke from a game night my family had at least five years prior. I was so surprised he even remembered that. I stored the postcard in my scrapbook because I have a strong feeling his gesture of kindness towards me meant just as much as mine did to him.
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