I visited the kids at Family House last night. Family House is a place where families live while their kids are in cancer treatment. (Of course there are other awful diseases children have. Their families are also welcome.)
My number one fan Raul died 4 days ago. It was a bit strange to go in there for me. My job is to entertain, not soothe. There are lots of kids there though, plenty to make laugh.
It was a Holiday party (translate Christmas. Come on! I'm a Jew and I call everything Christmas!). Presents galore, piles and piles of presents for the kids. Way more than I give my children even. People love to donate to this place.
I am surrounded by my fan club of kids (there is no place I'm more of a rockstar than Family House). There is Santa, there are elves giving away presents, my good friend Super Gigi is facepainting (she's the best in the world, and totally funny).
Raul's brothers come through and say "Hi Boswick...my brother passed away" Oy. What do I say to that?
Towards the end, Raul's dad asked me to come see his wife, she just didn't want to come to the party. So I went to where they live and she was lying under blankets crying.
The room is like a large hotel room. Everyone is living there, Mom Dad and about 4 kids. So there are toys all over, clothes, TV video games. It would look like a typical family vacation viewed without knowledge.
She brightened up when I came in. She even smiled when she saw me. Raul loved me, that made her smile.
That's what I do. That's why I'm here. For all the fight to stay doing what I do, the fight to make a living. The fight to make a living as a clown and convince people that kids love clowns. Raul's mom smiled when she saw me.
We sat, I held her hand. I had made a small video for Raul, when he missed my show last year. I make videos all the time, to me, it's a tiny project. Raul had my video on his ipod. He watched it a few days before he passed away.
I did what I do. I made a family smile for a few minutes, in a world that gave them nothing to smile about.
Oh, Boswick, I am so sorry to hear that Raul passed away. That was awesome for you to go see his mom. Once again, a great example of you spreading good in the world. Have a Happy Hanukkah.
ReplyDeleteThanks. It has made me think about kids and how delicate life is.
ReplyDeleteBut truly, the people that work at Family House are amazing. I have one sad moment, they deal with this probably once a month, or every other month. I really can't imagine.
I couldn't imagine, either. You are right, people who work in those areas are amazing.
ReplyDeleteWow. It's a great thing you do for people. I'm glad you could make that poor family smile for a bit. As a mom I couldn't imagine losing any of my children so young. I came over from Karen's blog and i think I'll stay a while. I like to smile, too!! :)
ReplyDeleteWelcome to my blog. As you can see, I don't have a lot of followers, I'm very glad you're here.
ReplyDeleteWriting about Raul is super personal to me. I'm never sure how to explain why I visit sick kids or how to react when people think I'm better than I am. I just do it because I like what I do and someone asked. I have an ability to separate from what I see, I imagine it's what nurses and physical therapists do.
But I'm a performer, so the kids I see are laughing and giggling, I mostly can't tell who's sick and who's a brother or sister.
Seeing Raul's family was something for me. I sat with his mom, I just held her hand and she told me about losing her child...all around the room were kids running around (they had new toys for Christmas), they're shouting at me, Hey Boswick look at this, Hey Boswick...
Most of the things I talk about are not like this! My job is fun. I think a lot about what I do, a blog is just brain spillage.