:: toasty heart ::

It seems a bit cliche to say that something or some happening "warms" your heart-- but I had a moment that made the ol' ticker absolutely toasty...

It was late at night, at the hospital. The halls were dim and finally quiet, and I was checking on my patients before I sat down to chart and perhaps grab a bite to eat. I was just finishing up with one of my patients, the sweetest old gentleman- slightly confused and forgetful but striving gallantly to cover it up. {on a side note, I love it when you "discover" patients who are amazingly like your own grandparents}I asked if there was anything else I could get for this gentleman before I left. He replied that no, there wasn't, and I said softly, "Good night!" He looked at me, smiled, and said with the sweetest voice, "Goodnight, dear-- I love you!"

Sometimes the hospital can be a hard place to work. There have been some nights, especially recently, in which I have wanted nothing more than to flee and forget-- forget people and forget fears and sadness and pain and exhaustion. Not mine, but my patient's. It is easier to forget, or to be untouched in the first place. It is easier not to let people in, not to let yourself become attached. It is harder to care. But when people are so dear it is like a hug from God. :-) And that is kind of a cliche too, but it is absolutely categorically truer-than-true.