The following took place in a Cardiac Intensive Care Unit where our eldest daughter -Kui, was a patient. The nurse assigned to care for Kui was called Linda. On this particular day, the rest of the family had come to visit Kui and enjoy some much needed family time. Rita, our youngest daughter on getting to see her sister all connected to machines realized that she had some heart ‘challenges’ she was dealing with. That however did not dampen Rita’s spirit. She was her usual jovial and cordial self.
She quickly connected with Linda the nurse. They played cards games, shared jokes and more. Out the blue, Rita offered me a dollar to give to Linda our nurse saying…”Daddy, please give this dollar to Linda, I know she needs it.” My immediate reaction was to ignore Rita’s request and tell her to keep her dollar. More so, I was not about to embarrass Linda by offering her a dollar from a 6 year old child. In addition, I did not want to be mean to Rita…my mind battles were still going on when Rita and the rest of the family left to return back home.
I summoned all my courage and offered Linda the dollar. She turned it down out rightly. However, I reasoned with her telling her, it would be unkind to turn down a child’s act of kindness. she begrudgingly accepted the dollar. I thought nothing more about the incident. Linda however was very touched by the event. She made a ‘dollar heart’ and wrote the letter below to Rita.
Dear Rita
Thank you so much for your gift. I
really appreciate it and am so
touched by your kindness. In
return, I want to give you a dollar
back, but it is folded into a heart
so you will always remember me
by. Don’t worry, I will always keep
the dollar you gave me as a good
luck charm. Lastly, stay strong for
your big sister. You are doing
such a great job already.
Love,
Linda
I am surely glad, I let go the formalities and expectations of my current world…All these would not have happened if I had kept the dollar to avoid ‘inconveniences.’ Have a free day…