Amanda Noddings

Sunday! Yay! Sunday! Its been a long hard week for me this week at work. Difficult. Made it hard to stay on top of my daily goals at home each morning when I felt completely beat up from the night before at work. Last night at 11:30 pm, a hospice patient put on his call light for maybe the 100th time during the shift. In my head, I groaned silently- and I'm ashamed to admit, in my head, I was thinking, "Seriously? What NOW?"

So when I answer his light, he asks me if I have time to sit with him and if I have a pen and paper. Honestly, I didn't have time. I was behind on my charting, busy running from room to room, and still had last rounds to do. But when looked at him, he had tears in his eyes. So I said I would get the paper. I hurried off and then ran back, thinking I would quickly jot down whatever it was he didn't want to forget before morning came. So he said, "I'd like to write a letter of commendation to your commanding officer." Mind. Blown.

So as I reflect this morning on the week that has gone by, I write this with a tear in my eye. We don't always know what's coming. But damned if I didn't get completely and utterly humbled by this frail man, this sick and dying man, this strong and capable soldier. Sometimes, when you think you have it all figured out, when you think you already know whats coming around the corner, you may just get surprised.