Worth Waiting For

"But groundless hope, like unconditional love, is the only kind worth having." ~Anon.

When my Aunt Midge and I were at the hospital last week with Aunt Elaine and Uncle Larry, I saw it. The kind of love that I'm looking for. The glimmer of hope that makes me think that holding out and being picky is the right thing to do. Even if it means no flowers on Valentine's Day this year.

After not seeing each other since being air lifted into the trauma rooms the day before, we convinced the nurses to wheel Uncle Larry's gurney into Aunt Elaine's room just for a couple of seconds. When they did, he looked over at her--her head halfway shaved, face covered in stitches, arm in a cast, hospital gown attire--and he said, "Hello, Beautiful." And he meant it. In his eyes, she is beautiful, period. Circumstances don't matter.

And you know, that was a moment I'll never forget. Because what I saw? Well it was love. In its purest, truest, most unconditional form. And if it exists in a hospital room in El Paso now for Aunt Elaine, it just might exist for me somewhere someday too. And that, my friends, is something worth waiting for.