My colleague, Paul, often encouraged me to retire.
“Robert, you’ve spent your whole life taking care of other people. It’s time to take care of yourself.”
I’d always answer the same way.
“And do what? Sit at home missing my family?”
He never knew what to say.
Neither did I.
I’d always answer the same way.
My heart felt shattered into a thousand pieces, and nothing could put it back together.
Then, a few nights ago, everything changed.
***
It was nearly midnight when the ambulance arrived.
The paramedics brought in a five-year-old girl named Sophie.
My heart felt shattered.
She’d been in an awful car accident.
The two adults traveling with her had died at the scene.
Sophie barely had a pulse.
When I looked at her tiny face, my breath caught.
She had brown curls like Lucy!
Sophie barely had a pulse.
For one terrible second, I saw my granddaughter lying there.
