The last couple of weeks have been exhausting and trying. This last year has just been crazy, but it has taught me so many things. First, family and friends are priceless. As we have spent time in small hospital rooms, we have laughed, cried, argued, apologized, and made up. Through it all, there was always love, for each other and the man we were there to comfort and support. My family has never been one to not drop everything to be there when a member needed us, and that was never more evident as we sat in the hospital till the wee hours of the morning, laughing at family stories and antics brought on by very little sleep and being over-caffeinated. I have also learned that if you must be there, how much easier a wonderful caring hospital staff can help ease things for you and your family. The nurses and staff this last week have gone so above and beyond for us. They don't get near enough credit, so to each and every nurse and staff member on the 3rd floor, 5th floor, and ER at Wise Health System, "thank you" doesn't cover it. Even though she wasn't a patient, you cared for my mom, who had to be in a wheelchair to be there, as if she was.
You made sure she was as comfortable as possible and had everything she needed. Warm blankets, water, comfortable chairs, right down to a hospital bed for her own so that she could stay in the room with the man she has loved for the last 23 years, and hold his hand and sleep by his side one last night. What that meant to her and our entire family can never be put into words. Some of you, at the prompting of someone who will remain nameless, even had an impromptu dance party in the hospital room in ICU, which brought a smile to the patient's face. Y'all are the best, and again don't get the praise you so richly deserve.
I have found that there are so many little things that take up our time with worries, that it steals our joy, but watching a man experience the joy of his family around him, laughing and joking, or enjoy something as simple as a cold root beer, or holding someone's hand and I realize that those small things are around us every day to enjoy if we could just slow down and let go of the stress and worry so we could see them and enjoy them. There are people in this world who are so alone because they have focused on the wrong things.