I Really Needed That Today!

When we started this Columbus program in the midst of a pandemic, I made a decision to be in clown as soon as I leave my car. I wanted to increase our visibility because COVID has severely restricted the areas of the hospital we are allowed to visit. It helps me make staff, patients and visitors smile and laugh much more easily. After the shift ends, I walk back to my car, change shoes, take off my doctor coat, hat and nose, and drive home.
Today as I was packing my car to leave, I notice a man acting strangely about 30 yards away, then he reacts to me. He hurries toward me and I wonder if he is under the influence or injured somehow.
“Hey!” he yells, “ are you a clown here?”
I tell him yes and that we come every Thursday and clown mainly for the kids in the hospital. He is close enough to me now for me to notice that he has been crying.
“ I’m sorry to bother you, but could you please make me laugh?”
I do the best knock knock joke I know and the release comes immediately for this man as he cracks a smile and chuckles. I do a couple more jokes and get more laughs.
“Are you okay?” I ask.
He tells me that he was having a lot of ups and downs, but today his mother had gone all the way up.
“You just lost your Mom?
He nods, we elbow bump and we take a deep breath together. He then smiles and says, ”Thank you my brother, I really needed that today. God bless you!”

As he walks away, I think to myself, “I needed that too.”