Graduation & New England Fall Trip

Doing something a little off my routine today...taking a trip down memory lane.  To a day that I will NEVER forget.

June 7, 1990 – 7:30 P.M. 

I peered at myself in the small mirror over the sink in the tiny bathroom.  Running my fingers through my thin, dark blond hair, sweeping it up on the sides and snapping the barrette in place; I noticed the dark circles under my eyes as I applied Chap Stick to my purple lips.  I wanted to look presentable when my dad and step-mom arrived.

 I left the bathroom and returned to my bed.  I was glad that I had received a private room, as I climbed under the covers, holding on to the back of the hospital gown that stubbornly refused to remain closed.   I glanced out the large picture window that blocked out the noises from the day-to-day bustling in the hospital corridor. My eyes scanned the hall and stopped at the nurse’s station.   My mom and sister were standing by the counter and I was surprised to see that they were still here because they had left my hospital room ten minutes ago to head home for the evening.  Mom said they would return the next morning with my belongings, since we weren’t prepared for my admission into the hospital today. 

My mom was talking on the telephone and my sister turned toward my room with a huge smile on her face. 

A nurse called out, “I haven’t told her yet,” as Lisa skipped down the hall toward my room, her golden blond curls bouncing on her head. 

“Did you hear?!” Lisa exclaimed in excitement as she entered the room, completely oblivious to the nurse who had called out to her.  “They think they found you a heart!”  She blurted out as her large blue eyes waited for my reaction. 

“What?” I asked, although I had heard her loud and clear. 

She burst in to tears and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.  My heart pounding, my own blue eyes wide with excitement, I tried to console her by patting her back.

“Don’t worry Lisa, everything will be ok.”  My feeble attempt to reassure her was as much an attempt to reassure myself that nothing would go wrong, that this was it!

She pushed me away, “I’m not crying because I am sad, you stupid!  I am crying because I am so happy for you!” 

My heart was racing in my chest.  “Well, let’s not get our hopes up.  They did say it could be a false alarm if the heart isn’t compatible.”  But I could hardly contain my own excitement.  I knew this was it. This was the beginning of the rest of my life.  I had waited six months for the new heart.  By national organ donation standards, that was nothing.  But in reality, I had waited my whole life for this. All seventeen years, three months, and twenty-two days.  That is how long I have waited to be…normal.