Valentine’s Day Kindness

I was sick on Valentine’s day (had been sick for almost three weeks) and had an appointment to be seen at Kaiser’s urgent care department. The receptionist in urgent care was quite busy with many people coming in with various complaints. She was very pleasant and helpful. I saw the doctor and after his examination and listening to my breathing, he sent me down the hall to get a chest x-ray. He didn’t think I had pneumonia, but wanted to be sure. As I got my chest x-ray, I thought about it being Valentine’s day and how these people were working to make sure people like me were being cared for. I thought about doing a little something special and took a side trip on my way back to the doctor’s office and stopped at the gift shop just around the corner and down the hall. I looked around for something for Valentine’s day. I didn’t have a lot of cash on me and the obvious gift chocolates and flowers were too expensive. I settled on two See’s chocolate bars and stuffed them in my coat pocket. When I got back to the reception area, I let the receptionist know that I was back from x-ray and then offered her one of the two chocolate bars. I told her I thought it must be difficult working on Valentine’s day, but that I appreciated it. She was quite surprised and a big smile lit up across her face. She said she’d been sick in bed for the past 5 days and had gotten out of bed today to come to work – her first day back. She was so touched that someone would think to bring her a chocolate bar. Just to see her grin and light up was a joy. I then waited to see the doctor to read the x-ray. He came in, we looked at the x-ray, which was clear and as he was about to leave and I stopped him and offered him the other chocolate bar. He was also surprised. He said he didn’t have a Valentine’s sweetheart, but he had a big smile on his face, holding the chocolate bar. I wished him a happy Valentine’s day as I walked out the door.