Lobster Story (from Beth)

Hi guys,

I know I've kind of been the absent blogger lately, but I just wanted to quickly share one funny story about Steve that happened this morning. So last night I stayed over at the hospital with Steve, and this morning he woke up early and wanted to watch some TV before getting in the wheelchair, so we turned on ESPN. A couple of minutes into the show (which was about deep sea fishing) a commercial came on for Red Lobster's "jumbo shrimp buffet". I wasn't really paying attention, but then I heard this voice.

"Yummmmmm...."

I looked over and Steve was staring wide-eyed at the screen. I immediately felt terrible, and asked Steve if he wanted me to change the channel. He said no, and then signaled that he wanted to write something. So I got him a pen, and he wrote,

"No matter what I watch, I only see the Red Lobster commercial."

This would have been really sad, except that Steve was cracking up and so was I. He then wrote that he sees the little lobster from the Red Lobster logo everywhere: hopping around the room, hovering up by the TV, sitting next to him in bed, etc. He wrote that when he gets out of the hospital, the first place he's going to go is Red Lobster.

I was a little concerned about Steve's unending series of lobster visions, so I tentatively asked him if his friend the lobster had a name. And then out loud, as clear as could be and in a very serious voice, Steve said,

"He told me his name was Carl."

And then he cracked up again.

So even though Steve hasn't had any food by mouth for over three months now, he can still laugh about it, which to me is pretty darn amazing. And surely, as soon as he gets out, the first place we go will be Red Lobster so we can visit Carl and his little friends, the shrimp. :)