Jumping right back into work, post-vacation, is hard. But, complaining is boring and I think finding joy makes for a happier person... so, I'm trying anyway. True, there are days when you have to think really hard to find the "highlights", but I have an easy one from yesterday that I hope someone will enjoy hearing about it.

So, I have this patient who loves her baby doll. She has this sweet stroller that my 6-year old self would totally covet and she will spend a good chunk of her free time pushing her around the unit. We put a little diaper on her to keep her decent, sometimes I check her heart with my stethoscope to make sure she is staying healthy, and once I showed my patient how to swaddle her in a pillow case (apparently I did it wrong because it came off immediately). Anyway, my little patient is in a wheelchair and pushing your own wheelchair plus a toy stroller comes with certain challenges, right? It was slow going for a while, but as I watched her I decided not to step in and push her wheelchair for her because 1.) she seemed content and 2.) why interrupt such beautiful determination? Probably about one hour into this I look over into our playroom and see that my resourceful little patient had figured out a way to hook the stroller to the side of her wheelchair so she could propel the wheelchair and bring the stroller along with her... she and dolly were on their way!

Ok, so I admit that might be a corny story, but I loved it! Her dedication, resourcefulness... love it all. When you work with kids probably the best, most rewarding thing to watch is them finding their own way. I think this is a perfect, "little" example of that. Sometimes I just wish people could come see my kids just so they could see how awesome and capable they are! Disabilities don't exist in our hospital - only creative solutions. She taught me to remember how much really is outside the box.