So, I usually write about things that are directly related to school, but I had an experience this weekend that made me decide to change my direction this once. The Nursing Department has a requirement of 6 hours of Community Service. The past two semesters, I completed my requirement within the first week of the semester. This semester, I arranged to do it two times already, and both times it got canceled. I finally got a chance to do my community service this Saturday.

Last semester I actually had a chance to volunteer with this agency often. It’s a wonderful community-based agency that provides services for families of children with chronic and terminal illness. This semester, I was actually worried that I would not be able to complete my six hours of volunteering. I was so busy worrying that I wouldn’t make my required hours, that I had forgotten how great it actually feels when I’m doing it.

I got to the hospital on Friday evening, and I realized that I had actually taken care of this child on another occasion. It was so wonderful to see how much this child had improved in the past few weeks. As I settled in to the routine, I started thinking that this would be easy. I thought that since I already knew this kid, and I knew about his condition, I this would be a breeze. And I knew that the next 25 hours would be great.

Then, the kid started crying. I could tell he was in pain, and all I could do was hold his hands. I could try to soothe him, I could advocate for him, and I could pray for him, but I could not fix him. I spent the night hoping that he would be okay. I accompanied him to tests, I freaked out every time the monitor did its little song, and prayed some more. And we got through the night.

When the day shift arrived in the morning, I was tired from being up all night, but we had made it. The little boy was really in a good mood, very friendly, and I like to believe that it wasn’t from the pain medicine. We got to bond the rest of the day. Except of course when he took a little nap, and I got to snooze a little. By the time it was time to leave, I felt like I had just saved the world.. Well I guess they do say that you can save the world one life at a time.