I keep score.
I do. I keep a running tally in my head of anybody who has ever bought food for me. If you have fed me, I remember! I grew up poor, in 'the wrong side of town'. I got a scholarship through medical school from the hospital by where I grew up. They wanted to 'give something back to the community'--the pharmacists' decided to turn their profits in to a scholarship fund for all the kids growing up 'in the hood'--anyone who wanted to be a doctor, nurse, pharmacist, or other person who worked in the hospital. It really helped me pay for my medical school, which I did one hundred percent by myself. It really helped a lot.
For all of the pot-lucks in which I never brought a thing but you invited me to eat anyways--THANK YOU!
For all of the nights you let me sleep in the PACU and gave me a stack of warm blankets and a pillow--THANK YOU!
For the time I was so sick with bronchitis and tried to 'do it natural' you made me call in my own prescription and drove me to the pharmacy after hours--THANK YOU!
For when I had surgery in June, how you held my hand and gave me chinese acupressure as I fell asleep, then did RN First Assist on the case, and made sure I got the prettiest closure ever--THANK YOU!
For listening with your heart and supporting me through all of life's woes, most recently my mother's cancer that hospitalized her for three months--THANK YOU!
For all the times the cafeteria was closed, and you fed me from whatever you had brought in or ordered delivery--THANK YOU!
For all the times you let me know something was up with my patient and I better check it out before it got worse--THANK YOU!
For all the times you believed in me, even when I wasn't even yet an M.D. and was working really hard in Medical School to achieve it--THANK YOU!
For all the times I ate with you in the Nurses' Lounge because I felt the Doctor's Lounge was too cold and distant to relax and enjoy my meal--THANK YOU!
For all the times you greeted me warmly when we would pass in the hall of the O.R., and when you had to wake me up in the middle of the night to come in and do a case for that kindness and compassion in your voice--THANK YOU!
Today I am having Living Food (salad and vegan-raw sushi) brought to the Pot Luck today. And for Night Shift, we are having Warm, Vegan comfort food brought.
Without your knowing it, I arranged it.
It's time to pay you back.
Namaste,
Reiki Doc
P.S. I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm in the morning to write this. The thought woke me up. And that alarm goes off at four a.m.! Namaste <3