How to Make a Mom (and Dad) Cry?

I just walked into my office and set down my things after a nasty commute when my husband calls.

“I’m in the PICU,” he says, as my heart skips a beat, “delivering the mobile. I’m with HP. Do you want to say hello?"

HP, one of C’s main nurses. A dear, skilled nurse. One of the “How Can We?” team.

Of course I want to talk to HP.

We chat just for a moment. She loves the photo of C that we included, thanks us for the mobile, says she thinks of us whenever she looks up at the mobiles in the PICU rooms, asks how the baby (S) is, says her oldest is going off to college next year, and, oh, how it goes so quickly.

I thank her again, of course, for everything. My eyes are welling and I can hardly get the words out while I try to retain composure.

We say goodbye.

HP passes the phone back to my husband, and I say, lightly, “Way to get me to cry first thing in the morning!”

My husband says, “Me, too.”