Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Rounding at the hospital this morning, and everything felt a bit deserted.
Driving to the hospital, the roads were all but empty and quiet. I pulled into the parking lot at the hospital to find it oddly vacant save one other lone vehicle. Walking the halls of the hospital, I saw one dietary personnel, but otherwise, again, empty. Thankfully, the patients themselves were in fact still in their rooms and not AWOL like seemingly the rest of Lafayette. Later, a few docs did pass through the lounge as I was working and shared a friendly "Happy Thanksgiving!" and I was feeling better about the day, until it came time to leave and I found myself once again flying down the road unimpeded by the bumper to bumper traffic that had filled that exact same spot just the evening before. The stores on either side of me darkened and closed, not a soul. And I thought this must be what loneliness feels like. Lafayette must be lonely.
And then I drove by Denny's, packed and bustling for Thanksgiving morning breakfast. God does have a sense of humor, as it made me smile, reassured by the never-failing reliability of the praxis we exhibit as human beings.
So much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Jake & I are incredibly blessed by the family and the community God has placed us in and the love that He daily surrounds us with. I felt so bad this morning for Lafayette. Even though I have often been on my own in the past, I had never felt as lonely as the city looked this morning.
Sunrise on Franciscan Lafayette East Hospital.
Much Thanksgiving and Love.
