Welcome Home

“Surprise!” Voices shouted at Missy as she walked through the front door of her house. She could not believe they were having a party for her. Her first thought was that it wasn’t her birthday, but she knew why everyone was there before anyone even had to explain.

“We are so glad you are home from the hospital,” her best friend, Tammy, began to explain. “Everyone just wanted to show you how glad we were that you were finally coming home.”

Missy could only nod and smile. She knew if she tried to talk, she would start to cry. She was so happy to be home, and she was equally thrilled by the show of support from her friends and family. It hardly seemed possible that she had been in the hospital for over a month. Ever since the accident, she had trouble keeping up with the passing of time. Finally, after all the hugs and welcome-home greetings, Missy found herself standing beside Tammy. Tammy was the first to speak. “I am still so sorry about what happened.”

“You don’t have any reason to be sorry,” Missy said, squeezing her best friend’s hand.

“I just don’t understand,” Tammy began, “why you got hurt, and I didn’t even have a scratch.”

Missy thought back to the day they had been riding their bikes and a car had jumped a curb, hitting them both. Tammy had somehow managed to walk away from the accident, while Missy had ended up in the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Missy smiled at Tammy. “I would never want anything to happen to you just like you never wanted anything to happen to me. The good news is, we are both here now, and we’re both okay.”

Tammy smiled back and then nodded to the front door. “Actually, we still have one little bit of good news to share.” Missy looked through the open door and saw a big red bow wrapped around the handles of a brand-new bicycle. On the handlebars was a new helmet. The doctors credited her old one with saving her life. Missy could hardly wait to try out her welcome-home gift.