An Angel In Our Midst?

I'm not sure what reminded me of her today, but when the boys were in the NICU in Boise they had an amazing respiratory therapist named Shandi. She was quite literally a breath of fresh air, and there were several times that her kindness helped Nathan, myself, and even my parents keep our sanity in what otherwise would have been an overwhelming time in our lives.

All the nurses at St. Luke's in Boise had these weird intercom things that they wore on their scrub shirts. At the press of the button, you could say someones name and it would let you talk to that one person instantly. Well, one of my maternity floor nurses showed my dad that if you pressed the button and said, "Beam me up, Scotty", it would make the Star Wars beaming noise. It would also say, "Live long and prosper.", although I don't remember what the code word for that one was. Anyway, Shandi had a big enough heart to play along when my dad told her to try it (anyone else would have probably laughed it off and ignored him), and that kind of sealed the deal for all of us. We always looked forward to seeing her, and before we were discharged from the hospital, she gave me her email address so I could send her photos and updates of the boys as they grew.

About two months after we had brought the boys home, I came across Shandi's email address and decided to email her the link to our blog. We had become close with a lot of nurses in the NICU and I would have loved for Shandi to share this with all of them. Much to my disappointment, when I sent the email I got an error message back saying that her email address did not exist.

Another month later, we travelled back to Boise for the boys' preemie follow-up appointment. After getting the all-clear from the doc and the occupational therapist, we decided to take a quick trip over to the NICU to see if any of our favorite nurses were on. Unfortunately, most of the ones we had formed friendships with were on night shift (it's a whole lot quieter in the NICU at night, much more conducive to conversation).

Here's the strange thing...one that quite literally gives me goose bumps. We specifically asked for Shandi, knowing she usually worked days. The girl at the front desk had never heard of her. She asked around. None of the nurses had ever heard of a Shandi. Not even the other respiratory therapists had ever heard of her. This was a mere three months after being discharged from the same NICU. Not nearly enough time to have enough turn over that no one in the entire department would recognize her name.

I believe in angels. Shandi, if you're out there and even if you're fully 100% flesh and blood human, you were an angel to us during a very difficult time. And if not...

God sends you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it.