lessons in gratitude #1

I was walking down the hallway in the hospital to get a coffee from the cafeteria. My mind was wandering sleepily. It's so easy to get wrapped up here, in a children's hospital, in your own story and your own grief. There are so many characters here who lend perspective, if you let them. It can be hard to remember that, yes, today might be the worst day of your life, but it is also the worst day in the lives of many of these families. I was thinking about the last time time we were patients here. It was late at night, I was rocking my baby; he was doing well and I think we were discharged the next day. A child was admitted to the next bed, newly diagnosed with a brain tumor, and I tried not to listen as lots of doctors had a conversation with the parents, and the child was intubated and sent off for tests, and my heart broke for that family, and with gratitude that my baby's breathing tube was out and he was snuggled safe in my arms.

I think of that family a lot and wish them well.