I don't know if I've mentioned before, but for the last few months I've devoted three hours a week to the kids at Children's Medical Center. I didn't quite expect to be affected the way I've been affected lately... but I really couldn't be more thankful for having the chance to make a difference in a little one's life. Three hours may not seem like much to some but to those kids who are lonely, scared, who miss their parents out working to pay their hospital stay and even those babies that just want to be rocked to sleep each night.... I'm glad I could be there for them.
Each week the scene changes and the kids come and go...but each week I go back looking forward to spending my time just being their friend. From the play room setting..where you get to lose track of your own personal day...(and for them, being free of nurses, needles, yucky medicine and poking fingers)... to being able to sit with them in their room providing comforting arms after the nurses have left them with racing hearts and shivering bodies.. I leave the hospital each Monday feeling fullfilled and hopeful that whatever illness plagues the kids I've come across that day...is cured and never returns.
Nothing can compare to seeing kids that have been cooped up in their hospital rooms all day light up at the sight of a wooden block dinosaur in the playroom...or the excitement in their eyes as they watch other kids play Cars on the Wii. It seems silly and trival to let the negative happenings of your day affect you when little innocent children are affected daily by terrible, heartbreaking illnesses. It seems unfair to most, but as you watch them...it's shockingly evident that not one of these kids lets their misfortune bring them down. I know the day will come when I'll be saddened hearing of the loss of one of these sweet children...but I vow to never let that stop me from being there for them now...when I can...for as long as I can... to help them cope with whatever life throws their way.
