As many of you know, my husband donated a kidney to my father last Thursday. Everyone is doing well and we are all thankful!

This morning they gave us the wonderful news that my husband could go home. We were both very excited. I had to go to the hospital pharmacy before we left so that I could get Drew's meds. The woman behind the counter told me it would be 45 minutes. Although I wanted to get Drew home (and wanted to be home myself), I was kind of excited about the idea of actually just sitting in silence for a bit. For the past several days, my phone had been a steady stream of texts, facebook messages, facebook wall posts, phone calls, etc. Believe me, I'm not complaining. We felt extremely loved! Anyway, you can understand how one might be excited about the idea of silence...just silence.

So, I found a comfortable chair and I saw a man rolling a cart with some newspapers on it. He is wearing those Groucho Marx glasses that one might get from a costume shop (black glasses, large nose, mustache). You know the kind. He had long hair and an unkept beard. He appeared to have some type of physical and possibly development disability.

Anyway, I smiled and said good morning. He began to mumble a bit. He kept saying, "wait a second, wait a second, hold on" as he tried to make the funny glasses stay on his face. He reached into his cart and pulled out two band-aids and handed them to me. I realized that he wanted me to place the band-aids over the sides of the glasses to help keep them on. I obliged.

I sat back down and he decided to join me. I was going to make small talk and decided to discuss last night's Cardinal win, when he handed me a white 3-ring binder. The top of the binder said something to the effect of "The Story of Jim Stoien." He pointed to it as if he wanted me to read it. I flipped through the pages and a lump immediately formed in my throat.

Jim Stoien was a biochemist in the late 70's. He was attending graduate school in Colorado and was considered top in his class. (You can google his name to see some of his early research). Jim was struck by a car while on his motorcycle in the late 70's. He lost his ability to speak and the subsequent surgeries affected his ability to continue research. The book went on to explain that Jim is an avid Cardinal fan (I knew I liked him for a reason) and that he is now a volunteer at BJC.

The book included some poetry that Jim himself wrote after the accident. There were pictures of a vibrant young man, full of life, and his family throughout his early years. There was an obituary for his mother, who died this past January. There were newspaper clippings from a fire that destroyed his apartment complex several years ago. There were newspaper stories about his accident that talk about the "local genius" who was hit by a car and whose research would never be completed. Overall, he appeared to be dealt a difficult hand.

He smiled at me as I looked through the pages and held back the tears. He asked me if I wanted some of his candy and started to leave. Before he left, I adjusted the band-aids and helped him to keep his glasses on. He literally tipped his Cardinal baseball cap to me and went about his day.

I've never been more thankful for an interruption in my entire life. I will never forget Jim Stoien. I hope to come across his path again. I left the hospital with a renewed thankfulness. Even though these past three days have been an emotional roller coaster, I know we are blessed. I pray for special blessings on Jim Stoien for bringing a smile (and some perspective) to my day.