Nick.

This is my most awesome of nephews, Nick. He's 16 years old, and was the very first of my parents' grandchildren. The Golden Child. I was in love with him from Day One. My first nephew. I love all my nieces and nephews to pieces, y'all know that -- but for whatever reason, this child and I have such a strong bond. He used to come to work with me and be there, bored, for 9 hours, just to hang out with Aunt Elle. He is the funniest person on the planet to me. We will sit and giggle like little girls over the stupidest stuff -- and I will be having the time of my life. I consider it an honor that he thinks I'm super cool. Because he, this beautiful boy, is truly super cool to me.

I'm unclear of a lot of the details, but over the weekend, Nick's best friend Brian was in a tragic accident. He fell from 30 feet and is currently in ICU in Charlotte. He has severe brain and spinal injuries. Last night he had emergency surgery to remove part of his skull to accommodate the swelling of his brain. He's being kept sedated and on a ventilator so that he will not injure his exposed brain. They can't even begin to think about his spinal injury until he is somewhat stabilized, but it's uncertain how far reaching that will be. He does have some feeling in his lower extremeties but it's simply too soon to know if he will walk again, or what kind of lasting effects the brain injury will have. And that, tragically, is the best case scenario.

Nick is understandably devastated. To be so young and to have someone so close to you undergoing something so incredibly devastating just blows my mind. Selfishly, I can't help but be grateful that it isn't my Nicholas lying in that hospital bed. Had it not been for the fact that he was grounded, he would have been with Brian that day, and who knows if he would have found himself 30 feet off the ground along with his friend.

I'm so proud of how he is handling this. Of course he's a wreck, but he's being strong for his friend and has spent countless hours at the hospital even though they won't let him in to see Brian. He just wants to be there. He's a loyal and amazing friend, and my heart is broken for him. I can only hope that he sees that he isn't bulletproof after all, and accidents can happen even when you think you've got everything figured out. There is no reason to take risks that could turn into tragedy.

So if y'all wouldn't mind...could you take a second to send up a prayer, or a positive thought, or whatever it is that brings peace to your life, for Brian and his family, and for Nick, too.

I'd so appreciate it. :)