The Face On The Other Side Of The Glass

I've been there. I know how it feels to be on the inside looking out at the world. Oh, not from the comfort of my home. I do enjoy that view. I am speaking about the view from inside a hospital.

Now, what would make me remember that?

The first day of Spring.

It was on that day 13 years ago, my son, Keith had his operation to remove the cancerous tumor from his leg.

Maybe it would have been different if we were closer to home. Perhaps I would have been looking out the window at familiar landmarks and I would have found comfort in it.

This, however, was in stark contrast.

I have passed by hospitals a thousand times and never thought about what it would be like to be a face on the other side of the glass.

Yes, I've visited with friends and family before when they were there.

But, this was different. This time and this place would be our home for months.

I can remember very clearly standing in the window of the waiting room that day. Almost oblivious to my surroundings I was suddenly shaken when I happened to glance across the street.

"I can't believe it!" I whispered.

I had been there so many times through the years. Standing there I would never have given any thought at all to the view. I wondered now if someone would have been looking at me from the hospital window.

"Two different worlds," I said.

You see, this was Hershey, Pennsylvania. My son was in the Hershey Medical Center directly across the street from Hershey Amusement Park. From where I was standing I could see the famous Hershey Kiss Tower, a ride that takes you to the top to see a spectacular view. Which, even back then, included the very hospital my son was now in.

How many times were we at that park when he was a little boy?

We could never even begin to imagine that one day he would be fighting for his life and I would be a face on the other side of the glass.

Of course, this all got me thinking about life.

There are many times when we are on the inside looking out, not by choice, but by circumstance.

But there are all too many who are afraid to venture out. The comfort of being in familiar surroundings has dimmed the light of their distant dreams they once saw as attainable.

Like at the amusement park, you are never too old to take a ride to the top. The view is magnificent and it's right where God wants you to be.

A little closer to Heaven.

"What side of the glass on you on?"

"I wish you enough!"
~ Bob Perks ~

[ by: Bob Perks Copyright © 2009 (2believe@comcast.net) -- {used with permission} ]