NOTES ON THE BACK OF MY PARKING STUB

Observations from yesterday at Children’s Hospital...

I see all races, ages, demographics.  Worried parents of an infant.  There are all sorts of colored scrubs.  Smiling siblings.  Professionalism.  Lots of professionalism.

Educational displays - even in varied language.  Did you hear that voice?  Other nationalities are here.

Lots of paperwork.  I wonder if the workers ever tire of it.  There’s a lot.  A lot.

Parents and grandparents huddled around the toddler in the exam room.  “Who should go back?” they ask.  No joy there.

My own anxious son.  Does he know of the days he spent here before?  Does he remember?  It was a struggle.  Gut-wrenching.  I pray not to forget what we learned.

An older, wheel chair bound boy, whose only word was unintelligible.  He seemed frustrated at the lack of understanding around him.  He was animated.  Another boy with similar circumstances, completely unaware of the little understanding around him.

An older lady in traditional, Islamic garb.  A little girl in precious, princess garb.  Everything goes here.

A young lady with a large gash under her right eye.

A sad parent, picking at her salad in the cafeteria.  I wanted to talk with her... to see what had broken her heart.  Several worn out adults.

A lady whose knee hinged to the side instead of backwards.  A toddler crying.  Multiple moderate disabilities.  Intensive needs, too.

A woman on her cell phone scrambling to decipher how to pay her bill.  She did not know.

A boy with Down syndrome, who somehow found a way to make a grumpy woman smile.  One was white; one was black.  It did not matter.

Doctors conferring.  Conferring more.  Sometimes with sobering looks on their faces.

A newborn, only 9 lbs., with the cardiologist.  His father cradling him.  A teenage boy with a tracheotomy.  A boy whose legs were only bones, it seemed.

Paralysis.

On those days when you think, “Woe is me.  Doesn’t the world revolve around me?!”  Remember that it does not.  Our troubles are momentary.  Replace thoughts of self with expressions of thanks...  we have much to be thankful for.

AR