Yesterday I received a very unusual SMS out of the blue. To give you an idea as to just where this story stars we have to go back to somewhere in 2006. Unfortunately for me at this stage I had been hospitalised for food poisoning from chicken (which I won’t need to tell you was particularly severe).

Following a painful weekend, I ended up in hospital for a week. During my time in hospital I had the pleasure of being tended to by a lovely young nurse (who on reading this will find out she has always been known as the “really cute” nurse).

She took great care of me during my stay and regardless of the late hours, long shifts, and constantly being on her feet never ceased to come to me with a warm smile and a friendly voice. I will admit that she was (and is) gorgeous, but in all honesty just having the friendly smile in such an otherwise morbid place made every day seem that much brighter.

On a little side note I also recall that after being nil-by-mouth for three days she was awesome enough to get me extra soup and green jelly (jello) on the night that I was able to consume liquids again, and I can tell you that is something to this day that meant more to me than solid gold after being on IV fluids for three days straight.

Anyhoo I digress, as she had been so nice and taken such good care of me I decided to leave her a little letter upon leaving. Contained in this note was a bit of a thank you, and a handwritten copy of “Choices” (Author Unknown). I had a feeling that it might be something that would be a really good read for her to help her when times got tough at work, which as a Nurse can happen often. I handed her the note and never heard from her again assuming that the note had been read once and then forgotten… Yet, this brings us to the present day.

As mentioned yesterday an SMS came out of the blue asking if “this number still belonged to Stuart”… Obviously I was hesitant before replying as I could not find any record of the number anywhere, however I took the plunge and said that yes indeed I still owned the number. Little did I know that the next reply would floor me. She replied, “You may or may not remember me but I am the nurse you gave a thank you letter too back when you were in hospital, I just re-read that letter and thought it would be nice to see how you are”.

I was floored, gobsmacked and tickled all shades of pink, to know that she had kept my thank you letter and said that it still always makes her smile. To know that even after all these years what I wrote still put a smile on her face just makes me jump with joy. It is also really nice to know that what I wrote had an impact on her and has been something that she has been able to read since… for me that is a big thing.

So to the “cute nurse” I say thank you kindly for not only looking after me back then but out of the blue giving me the best christmas pressie of the year, a simple SMS and and the knowledge that what I wrote all those years ago still puts a smile on your face to this day.

Stuart