You’ll forget the hospital waiting room, but you’ll remember the nurse who explained things kindly.

Hard days compress into very little. The hours and the chairs and the paperwork blur, and what survives is usually one person who treated you like a person while explaining something frightening in words you could follow. Kindness given during somebody’s worst hours outlasts the hours by years. That is worth knowing from both sides of it.

If you were ever looked after like that, you can still say so, however long ago it was. And when you happen to be the calm one in a bad moment for someone else, explain things plainly and stay a little longer than you need to.