like a lightning bolt.

this will be short, and to-the-point.

{i hear you laughing, those of you who know me. i promise, it will be!}

a patient made me cry today. i was filling out his cataract surgery papers, and i began to cry right there in front of him. here's why: he told me that this was his second time scheduling this surgery; that his wife had died a few weeks before his original surgery date. i looked in the chart, and saw that date was just in september of this last year. i said, "oh, i'm so sorry to hear that. i can't imagine." he took this as his go-ahead to continue the story. you know, sometimes all a person wants is to have someone listen. its hard to carry hurt all alone, it needs to be let out.

he proceeded to tell me that he has been with his wife for 63 years, and that they were married for 62 of them. i asked him how old he was when he met her. he replied, "i was 19, she was 18. i will never forget the day that i met her, either. she was beautiful and kind. i couldn't stop staring. and it was like a lightning bolt hit me in the back of the head, and i realized, 'this is her, this is the girl you are going to make your wife,' and then a year later, i did. they told her last year that she had a month to live, and put her in the hospital. she died in there."

i looked up at him with the biggest lump in my throat, and the nile river building up in my eyes, and said, "gosh, you're making me cry!" he just smiled a sad smile, and i could tell he still loved her as much then as he did 63 years ago.

one day - be it now or months or years from now - i want someone to love me that much. and i want love to hit me like a lightning bolt.