You're beautiful

April 25, 2016 ~ The other day, I stopped in to use the restroom in the Administration building before visiting my son at the State Hospital. I heard someone singing in another stall and wondered who in the world was singing in the bathroom!

Come to find out, it was another patient from my son's unit who has privileges to walk around by herself on campus and was visiting the library. This sweet lady is one of the happiest people I've ever met. Almost every time I see her, she tells me I’m beautiful and calls me "sweetheart". Her smile can light up a room.

And I think how bittersweet it is that this beautiful person, who so easily brightens the lives of people around her, has been so wounded by mental illness. The effects of her illness and the side effects of her medications are obvious. She shuffles. Sometimes she's a little disheveled and her clothes don't match. But her smile....

On the days when she doesn't smile at me (which doesn't happen very often, but does happen) I say a little prayer for her - that tomorrow will be a better day. That her smile will return, for her sake - but also for mine. I've come to rely on her smiles because they give me hope. They make me realize that life, with all its challenges and difficulties, can still be beautiful. And if she can smile, then what reason do I have not to?