My husband and I decided to go over to my parent's house on Sunday night before the start of the week. I was so excited for Monday, I got transferred into another hospital; the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. They needed more staff members. We headed over to Mount Prospect, Illinois, my hometown. This is where my parents have lived ever since I was born but I moved out when I started college. On our way there, we stopped by my mother's favorite bakery and bought her a couple of treats to tell her all my news.

As we walked into the house, the aroma of sweet apples and cinnamon filled the air. My mom made her delicious warm apple crisp with creamy, smooth vanilla bean ice cream right on top. I looked over at Matt, my husband, and a gigantic smile appeared on his face. This made me feel so warm inside, the feeling of home just made me so happy. We sat down and while enjoyed our sweet dessert I said,

“ I have something I want to tell you guys,” I started by saying 

My parents stayed quiet and serious. I'm not quite sure what they were expecting me to say but they were excited to hear the news. 

“ Mat and I are moving into town!” I said.

My mom and dad's faces lit up. They seemed so excited to have me move close to them. Ever since my husband and I got married and moved to Wisconsin, they've asked us to give Chicago a chance but we never considered it because it's hard to make arrangements with the jobs we had at that time. Now it was finally happening 

“That's so nice to hear honey, I'm so excited for you too! So when do you guys plan on moving, have you bought a house yet?” my mom asked.

“Yes I agree with your mother, I'm so excited that you and Mat are finally moving in closer to family. We will be able to have more family reunions often since we will have you close by.”

“Well I start tomorrow, my boss had told me a couple of months back. I wanted it to be a surprise for you and dad. We got an apartment to start like half an hour from here, so we will be able to come to visit.”

The next morning I took a long drive to downtown Chicago. I felt so out of place.

“That's such a good opportunity for you and Mat, what hospital did they move you to?” asked my dad.

“It's called the Northwestern Memorial Hospital. It's about an hour from here. I'm so excited to meet new people and to see where this takes me.”

It was around eight and it was getting dark so Mat and I decided to head to the apartment

“We better get going babe, it's getting dark and you know how traffic is around here” warned Mat.

“Alrighty I think we are going to head out, hopefully, we can come to visit on the weekend, we still have to get settled.”

“Ok honey drive safe, love you!”

We said our goodbyes and drove home, I got prepared for my big day the following day. There were hundreds of people and so many cars but I tried to enjoy every second of it, I had to get used to this, it was going to be my new normal. I got to the hospital and followed the instructions I received; I entered the building and a beautiful image I walked past caught my eye. I had to go back and look at it again. Then I realized this was no painting. It was a window and you could see lake Michigan right in front of the hospital. It was such a beautiful view and I just knew that no matter how many times I looked at it the bright-beautiful blues would always catch my eye. I went upstairs to the main floor, got settled, and met a couple of the nurses. They were all so welcoming it just felt like home. It was such an odd feeling and it's weird for me to say that because moments before arriving on my way here I felt so out of place. One of the nurses, named Kelly, showed me around the hospital and introduced me to more people. I was a little overwhelmed, this hospital was two times the size as the one back in Wisconsin. The day was about over for me. I had trouble finding my car because I did not remember what doors I came in through and which parking lot they led to and it was so dark outside which made everything a million times more difficult. I finally got in my car and drove myself home. I was so exhausted I fell asleep right away. 

The next morning I met up with Kelly once again. She was called down to floor 3 and she asked me if I wanted to tag along. I agreed because I wanted to get the hang of how things worked. She asked me to help her bring down a few patients from their room to the cafeteria. It was their turn to pick out what they wanted to eat.

Once we arrived I held onto the wheelchair and started pushing it. 

After we went past a couple of rooms I decided to introduce myself. 

“Hello my name is Doctor De Leon, what is your name?” I asked.

He stayed quiet and I felt so awkward, so I repeated myself.

“Hiii, my name is Sam, Samm…” he paused. “I have a hard time remembering my last name”

“Don't worry it happens to everyone,” I said trying to make him feel better. 

“Sorry, what did you say? my hearing isn't the best,” he said loudly

I realized that he probably didn't hear me the first time either. I was having a good conversation with him as I took him up to the cafeteria. I could see the excitement as we arrived. Kelly had told me they got so excited when they went to go pick out their food she only let them do this once a week so it made sense. I'd be pretty excited too. I helped Sam out with his plate and while he was waiting for the soup to be brought out I heard him humming a familiar song I couldn't remember what it was called so I decided to ask him what the song was called.

“I'm not sure, my memory doesn't work very well. It is the only thing that reminds me of my wife and it's a catchy tune so it's easy to remember .”

The soup was then brought out and I helped him serve his plate. We sat down on the tables in the cafeteria and continued the conversation.

“May I ask why that song reminds you of your wife?” I asked. 

“Well, you see, back then when I was younger I bought my wife a little box. I used this little box to propose to her. I wanted to do something creative so I bought it and made her favorite song play once you opened it. I carved our initials on the little heart inside the box I really miss her”

“Is your wife here?” 

“No.,” he said I realized he stopped eating. I could tell something was off; he got sad so I asked him to talk to me.

“I haven't seen my wife ever since I got asked to serve in the military before the war, this is the only thing I have left of her.”

He showed me a small necklace that he had in the pocket of his sweater. It was half a heart with a date on the back.

“The last time I came home before leaving. She told me we were expecting a child. When I came back, I heard there was a big migration of people up north because of a huge storm, and from then on I didn't know anything about her or my baby because all of the records were lost .”

This is so hard to hear Sam. I can't imagine what you're going through. But at least you can remember the little things about her.”

“Yes, luckily I can, I will forever be thankful for that,” said Sam.

My shift was over early so I decided to pay a visit to my mom. On my drive there I caught myself humming the song Sam was humming earlier it was such a catchy song.

Once I arrived my mom had made some creamy chicken alfredo with her delicious homemade breadsticks. We finished up and helped her clean. as I was cleaning the dirty dishes she asked where I got the song from. I told her the story of Sam. 

“Oh my goodness!” my mom said and ran to the room.

 She started to throw boxes after boxes very loud which got my attention so I went into the room and as soon as I walked in there it was. The little box with a little half heart necklace on the inside,

 “It was your grandmas.” my mom explained.