Free Chicken Soup for the Nurse's Soul by Jack Canfield

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    “Thank you, Nurse,” Mrs. Walter sighed in relief. She then turned her head to look up at him and whispered, “Thanks a lot, Honey. You know you really didn’t have to come early today to be here, but I’m glad you did.”
    And it was my turn to thank him, just as I did yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. “Thanks for your help, Mr. Walter.”
    He didn’t say a word. He just smiled at Mrs. Walter with reassuring eyes and reached out for her hand. I looked at his eyes and saw the meaning of family and true love. I left Mrs. Walter alone with her husband and slowly walked away in silence, overwhelmed to witness love in its purest form.
    Maryjo Relampagos Pulmano
     

A Single Act of Love
     
T he hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread.
Mother Teresa
     
    His brief but tormented young life was punctuated by recurring visits to hospital emergency rooms for treatment of unexplained, questionable injuries too numerous to count. Despite the unsettled conditions of his family, this small boy always had a smile for everyone.
    Only God knows what horrors he was made to endure.
    The responsible adults who were supposed to be caring for him and providing love couldn’t control their own anger, impulses and frustrations. The family, friends and social system that was intended to protect this young lad failed him miserably. He shouldn’t have been allowed to slip through the cracks, but somehow, in this imperfect world, he did.
    On his last hospital admission, this battered and wounded youngster received exceptional care and experienced perhaps some of the only loving and caring moments of comfort and safety he would know in his abbreviated life.
    One evening, the nurse who was taking care of this broken four-year-old boy climbed into his bed, lay down next to him and cuddled him close to her heart. She gently stroked his forehead and sang soft lullabies in his ear until he fell asleep. That night he closed his tiny eyes for the last time.
    Those beautiful lullabies were the last sounds he would ever hear.
    This little boy passed into the next life surrounded by love—the love that he so desperately needed and deserved in this life. There is a Bible passage that says, “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, you do unto me.” By her actions, this nurse clearly demonstrated the powerful significance of these words.
    A single act of love, performed by one special nurse who opened her heart and soul, made a big difference to this precious little angel.
    Laura Hayes Lagana
     

My Promise
     
W hen love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece.
John Ruskin
     
    I was working as a house supervisor in a small, rural hospital on a bitter cold Midwestern winter in 1992. I wasn’t even supposed to be working the evening shift, but had agreed to swap with a colleague who needed the night off.
    Among my many duties was to assist in the emergency room if our lone ER nurse needed help. My pager echoed down the hallway that quiet evening, and I picked up the nearest house phone.
    “I need your help now,” Nancy said urgently. “We have an ambulance out on a little boy. Not many details, but it doesn’t sound good. He was found outside in a snow bank, and the first responders have started CPR.”
    My heart sank. It was thirty degrees below zero with windchill. The child didn’t have a chance.
    I immediately thought of my own little three-year-old boy. It seemed he was always on my mind. He’d been so distant for such a young child, disappearing into his room for hours to read his books. If I tried to sit down and read with him, he threw the book and left the room. I was his mother and loved him more than anything in this world, but he seemed to prefer his silence to my songs. He preferred aloneness to my love.
    My attention snapped back as I entered the emergency room. The ambulance was just pulling up, and when the gurney rolled into the ER it was met with