My girl

"Sylvia, come on back!" The voice belonging to the woman behind the lab counter sounded "all business" when she called a new patient back. Her tone remained short and concise when I saw a Travis and a Paul go get their arms poked by the vampires in white coats too.  I couldn't help but chuckle a little to myself when I saw poor Juan come in with a brown paper bag.  It was obvious by his stooped stature and his unshaven face he wasn't feeling quite himself.  The contents of the bag would have remained "secret" except the woman behind the counter demanded to see the three specimen containers. Being a former ER nurse, I already knew the stool specimens the bag contained.  Juan blushed and conceded he had not been able to fill all the containers. The woman behind the counter let out a huge sigh. "Ohhh, well if you can't fill them all I don't know what we are going to do!" She stood up and looked at Juan like my mom used to look at me when I had had an accident in my britches when I was two-years old.  The difference was Juan was not a toddler and this woman was not his mother. I saw her glance toward the restroom in the lab and I just couldn't believe she MIGHT ask him to try to go fill it NOW.  I almost went over and told poor Juan to put the paper bag over his head instead of around the stool samples!!!! Suddenly I heard, "Well, maybe this will be okay, "  as she held the last container up to the light for all in the room to see. "Just put them all in the blue bin over there and we will see how things work out."Juan hurried and performed this last task and left the laboratory in record time.
 I have to admit, I was not that excited for our turn!! My poor daughter had been coming to this same lab for 6 months for weekly blood tests and most of the time my older daughter had brought her in.  I wondered  if this was the type of treatment my little girl had been subjected to for the half a year. We were the last people in the room when I heard the voice say, "Sydney! Where is my girl?" I had wondered why everyone else had been called ahead of us, though we had been second in line behind Sylvia.  When the tone of the voice behind the counter suddenly changed and the mouth that held the voice turned into a smile with the name "Sydney" on her lips,  I began to figure it out. The smile remained as the woman came from behind the counter to find "her girl".She took Sydney by the arm and escorted her to the back like an old friend.  She still had her big booming voice, but a softness had taken over as she asked my daughter "How's your week been, Sydney? How's that art project coming? You are going to Idaho to see your cousins, huh? It sounds like you have your whole summer planned out. Oh, let's have them use that other tape that doesn't stick to your arm so much, honey". I saw this unknown woman bring my daughter back to me in the waiting room and they were both all smiles. "You have a good day now, Miss Sydney!" She said as we left the building.
Sitting across from Sydney in the car, I thought of the many times over the years I have seen this same kindness from strangers displayed on her behalf. Different school teachers, neighbors, friends, and yes sometimes the "random stranger" have been enriched by "their girl". Despite her own hardships, the aura around Sydney has always been one that has brought people joy and peace. It has been an interesting phenomena.
Last winter when we were looking for a medication to assist Sydney, times were very difficult. We had tried several medications. She was only sleeping a couple hours a night and her reality was not always in our world.  One of the scariest times was when she wandered from home and from the swimming pool where we were swimming. She didn't know where she was or where she was going. Our biggest fear was she would wander off and be hit by a car or kidnapped.  No one in the house slept very well last winter.
 During this time, I took her to see a special person. A physician friend of mine said she knew  a lady who, as a young adult, had seen people or things that weren't there. Over the years this wonderful person had learned to differentiate between reality and fantasy. My friend thought if nothing else, this person would be able to help Sydney learn to calm her mind.   The evening we visited was one of the most intriguing of my life.  This woman said she was not a medium, soothsayer or psychic. She mentioned that after she learned to calm her mind down, she later  determined  angels or ancestors were present around different individuals. She said she did not belong to any particular religious denomination, but believed we were ALL very connected to our families and ancestors. She spoke of her past and how she had had to learn to calm her mind.  She was kind and gave Sydney several suggestions of how to channel positive energy. She also quickly dispelled any thought that evil spirits surrounded Sydney. This had been suggested to us in the past by well-meaning individuals who maybe thought an exorcism would assist my daughter.  Instead, she said Sydney had a guardian angel who was a former nun, or holy person , and full of white light. This nun would surround Sydney with love and peace and bring people God's love. She said Sydney's mission in life was to love and that was enough. At that time, Sydney's short term memory was gone. She was not able to learn new material.  This kind lady said Sydney didn't need to worry about school right now. She did seem to have a medical condition and needed to let her mind rest.  We talked for hours!  She would not accept any money, but I did leave her a large basket of apples from my mom's tree.

I asked Sydney today after we left the lab if she knew how proud I was of her. She was making so much progress and her teachers just gushed when they talked about her. I told her I was mostly proud that she was such a nice person!"Do you know you make every ones day special that you meet?" Her response???(and then I really started crying... )"I know mom. It's because they are special."