One Hour, Every Three Months

If you look for it, there are millions of microscopically unimportant things that can go wrong every day. Today alone:

• An Amazon seller sent me a totally different shirt than the one I ordered.
• It rained on our walk to froyo.
• I forgot to apply mederma to my leg scar.
• Taylor Swift got stuck in my head.

I could go on, probably almost endlessly.

But what about the millions of microscopically important things that can go right every day?

• I got a new shirt off Amazon today that was only $5.
• I got froyo today with two of my favorite people.
• My scar has been healing exceptionally, and for the most part, I've even been remembering to massage away the lump.
• Hell, despite how derivative most of Taylor's new album is, it's at least catchy.

But most importantly of my day, it was the first Monday of the third month. Which meant I was a hot ball of stress all day over visiting recovering veterans. Every third month, our alumni chapter brings them pizza and chats for an hour or so.

The first time I went, I was really nervous (more honestly, I was probably more so scared). War is hard, and looking at those directly affected in the line of fighting in honor of America and seeing what it does to people, is really eye opening. It was amazing to sit across the table from some of the bravest men and women in our country.

So when it came time for this month's pizza, I wanted it to be perfect. So when people cancelled day of, I was going crazy. Then I couldn't decide what toppings to get. What if people are allergic to peppers? What if everyone wants cheese? Is pepperoni too unhealthy?

Then finding Papa John's was in and of itself a challenge (the sign light went out). I took a U-turn at the speed of light to try to make it on time. I'm surprised pizza didn't end up on the ceiling of my car.

But why was I stressing over the little details like pizza toppings, a few minutes, the number of people showing up? What I soon remembered was that none of that made a difference.

The time we spent playing ping pong, chatting about family pets and eating pizza is what really matters. Being able to meet people that have given of themselves in such an impactful way, and (hopefully) bring them a bit of comfort during a difficult time, is the true value of the event. Not all the peripheral noise going on in my head.

While it's just an hour every three months, it's a little something for people that really deserve a whole lot more.