Meet the King of Awesomeness... & Other Tidbits From Our Sweaty Holiday Season

It felt more like summer than December as I biked to work Friday morning, wiping sweat as I rode past the pitiful candy canes affixed to light posts on Coleman Boulevard. But I was so glad I had my bike with me so I could pop out of the office, hop on, and check out where the sound of bagpipes was coming from right around lunch time. 

If there's one thing that can make me teary for no reason on a hot December Friday, it's bagpipes. If there's another, it's the Burke Band.

And then you throw some sick children from MUSC Children's Hospital lining the sidewalk as truck-load after truck-load after golf-cart load of donated toys cruise by, along with superheros and guys on stilts and nurses tossing out candy, and I'm suddenly awfully glad I brought my sunglasses so I could hide my watery eyes.

Sure enough, right around noon on Friday, right there on Calhoun Street, Christmas came early, complete with the rhythm section of the Burke High School Marching Band.

This is the 10th year MUSC has gathered the thousands of angel tree gifts donated by employees across all divisions and departments and delivered them with parade aplomb, ending at the Horseshoe, transformed into a holiday jackpot of new bikes, bagged gifts, wacky elves, and emotional people like me, who felt a little ba humbug and hot before all the happy hullabalue.

The absolute kicker was when a little guy named Tim, a bone marrow transplant patient wearing a "King of Awesomeness" tee shirt and a red cap over his bald head, posed for pictures with Mr. and Mrs. Santa. 

Thanks MUSC, for making my day. And my holiday.