Moments to relive

Sometimes, when I’m having “one of those days,” I like to reflect on some moments in my life where I felt like I was on top of the world. Those moments that put a stamp on your heart, and your memory, and always bring you back to what you were feeling on that day.

Today I want to share a few moments that really took my breath away or caused me such joy that I wish I could do them again.  And of course because you know me, there is a combination of work things and personal things. 

One of the first things that comes to mind was after my father’s surgery to remove his cancer-infested kidney. The morning after the surgery, I brought my mother to his hospital room. He looked up and said, “The doctor told me if I start walking, I could get out of here faster. We are going walking!” So, if you can imagine, my 80-year-old father was doing laps around the other oncology patients and circling the nurses’ station.

I tried to explain to him no one liked a show off and he might trip if he is not careful! Did he care? No way! He wanted to go home as soon as he could!

When the doctor came back the next day, he told him he had done 100 laps and he thought he should get to go home. The doctor looked at me and I said, “Welcome to my world!” In the end, the doctor told him he needed to stay for at least one more day. The look on his face was devastating but the moment was hysterical. This is the essence of my Dad—give him a task and get the heck out of the way!

Children’s Specialized Hospital had been nominated by NJBIZ in 2007 for being an outstanding company. The award ceremony was the same night as one of our Board meetings and all of Senior Staff was there. We knew we had made the top 25, but we didn’t know where we fell in the ranking.

So, there we all were. We had been 10th the year before and we were thinking we might move up one or two spots. But that wasn’t the case.  The announcement of the rankings began; they called 10th place, 9th place, etc, and we still weren’t called.

As we reached the final honorees it was clear we would be named either first or second. When they announced that we were the Hospital of the Year I remember the elation. Not that it was going to change the course of anyone’s life, but we were all so excited and so proud to be together and working together. I can still feel the excitement in my belly. It was a great moment!

Lastly, I am taken back to Alabama. In graduate school I was hired by a big executive of a paper company to dog and house sit for them while he and his family traveled. They had a chocolate lab and I fell in love with her.

When they bred her, I asked to buy one of the chocolate females. She gave birth to 11 pups—5 chocolate, 6 yellow. Four of the chocolate puppies were males and only one was female, also the runt of the litter. I thought it was destiny! There were no ifs, ands, or buts—she was mine.

She lived for 15 years, getting me through a marriage and a divorce. She was my last dog (so far), because it was just too hard to say goodbye to her. I’ll never forget that first moment when I saw her, all by herself when the others were trying to nurse from their mom. We connected; she was mine.

I’m sure we all have a few moments that have left huge impressions on our lives. Please share one of your memorable moments in the comments below!