Little effort … big dividend

A few entries back I wrote about an experience I had in a Dr’s waiting room … it was not too pleasant. I had just the opposite reaction recently and I want to share it with you.

I was in the very crowded waiting room at the UNC School of Dentistry. Even though I was early there were very few seats left and one of them was right next to me. I saw a very timid looking girl approach and then she asked in broken English if it would be OK to sit there.

Of course I said “yes” and then added, “you can help me solve this crossword puzzle I’m working on.” “Oh, no …” she said in a quivering voice “I no speak good English”. To which I replied, “That’s OK. Lots of the clues are way beyond me too.”

It broke the ice and after we laughed together she went on to tell me that she was very scared. She was from a small country in Africa and had met her American husband when he volunteered for a year in the local hospital there. Now he is a UNC student and was the one who had set up the appointment for her. She had never been to a dentist and it petrified her.

I was so happy to be able to tell her of my positive experience there and how the Dental students and their professors were very caring and warm people. I could actually see her relax a bit and it was just at that point that a young, female dental student came out and called her name. She jumped up to go join her but then she turned back and , with tears in her eyes, she gave me a big hug and said something in her native language.

I couldn’t decipher what she said but my heart heard it and I can feel it, even now, as I write this.