Smile Like You Mean It

Today is volunteer day, I spend my Sunday mornings at the hospital every week just to give back. Today instead of being in the children section though I was asked to go to the teen section of this wing.

I brought my guitar like always and bag of books. Before going down the hall to see the teens I stopped by to see the kids. I gave them books and little candies before announcing I had to go down the hall. It was adorable to watch them all groan and protest my leaving but I left anyway.

I knocked on the door to the room that I had been in two almost three years ago. A nurse opened it and she gave me a hug. She was so happy to see me well and smiling. I use to be one of these sad kids sitting in the hospital room and she would always try to get me to smile and she told me every day I would get better. Of course I didn't believe her at the time but now every time I see her I can't help but smile at her and say thank you. Not thank you for curing my cancer but thank you for believing and having hope every single day.

It didn't take long for the six other kids in there to open up to me. Four of them were boys and three of them girls. None of their cancer was all that bad, the took mild chemo and were planned to have surgeries to remove their tumors. We talked about music and movies, school and family, and then we talked about friends and interests.

A boy was forced to walk into the room a few hours later. You could tell he didn't want to be in the room at all. He walked to the back of the room, his arms wrapped around his body and sat on the floor. One of the girls leaned over to me a told me in a whispered voice that he was always like that. I shrugged it off and continued our conversation.