Feeling Special ....

Very different day to yesterday . Maybe the sunshine and warmth . Late , N and me went to get her a school jacket and then to Borders for cards and a coffee upstairs ( in Starbucks ) . As we were leaving N asked if she could take her coffee away in a cardboard cup and the young man offered to top the coffee up and thus re heat it for her . His comment "it feels like the first day of summer and I want to do something to celebrate and hot coffee for you will be a good start . " N commented on how special a takeaway coffee can make you feel . People hate Starbucks with a passion and I understand the arguments but ... the staff in the two Starbucks I have frequented are amazing . A couple of years ago , I drank a lot of coffee and ate a lot of skinny muffins , and there were days when it was just good to have somewhere in life where everything was always the same . One memorable day when I was carrying too many things , books , magazines , keys , bags , and then on top the tray and right on my back all the cares of the world and the Barista of the Day glanced at me , picked up the tray for me and steered me and half of my belongings to a table in the corner with a sofa attached and indicated I should sit down . Without a word he went back to his coffee making and milk frothing , and though I said Thank you so much , I have no idea if he knew how much that gesture meant .

In 2000 , I became seriously ill over the course of a couple of days and when I finally got through Accident and Emergency and onto a ward , all I knew was the pain in my chest and the difficulty of breathing and the doctor who held my hand when he told me that there was a big shadow on my lung x ray and they didn't know what it was and there were several possibilities some serious but easy to treat and some " more sinister " but he didn't plan on talking through those " yet" . He didn't need to , I had worked out from the line of questioning and overhearing the shorthand " PE" that they were thinking clot ( pulmonary embolism) . I didn't watch Casualty all those years for nothing .
Finally finally finally , a drip was set up and I was lying in a bed and a nurse was standing by me and she asked me if she could try to make me comfortable and she adjusted my pillows and sheets and smoothed my hair and in that moment she was an angel and my fear disintegrated and I felt so completely happy and out of pain and that there was a chance that everything would be ok . Again I thanked her , but her shift ended and I never saw her again and I have no idea whether she had any idea what she did for me .