Waiting For the Shuttle

The feeling of concern becomes overwhelming. I want to be able to help every child and extend my hand to each weary parent. I cringe and watch a mother of four load the kids into the backseat of a cab. No seatbelts. No car seats. I wince at the site of a parent putting their infant who is on oxygen into the backseat while grandma smokes a cigarette in the front seat. I shrink and close my eyes not to see. There are toddlers with burns and teenagers with cancer. There are parents who cry and parents who yell. A mother gently removes a bandage and a father gets the car. Wheelchairs and wagons carry the burden of illness.

A mother’s eye can tell a million stories and I reluctantly read each one. And I wait.

I stand here grateful for the health of my children.

I stand here a proud employee of Nationwide Children's Hospital.