One thing

There is one moment in my life that I wish I could re-do. Ha, OK, truth be told there are lots of stupid things I wish I had never said or done, but that's just par for the course in my life. I will always say or do something stupid, and I'm generally ok with that. But there is one thing that comes to mind often that I wish I had done.

When I was working as a receptionist in London a woman came in late for her appointment one early afternoon. She wasn't even terribly late, maybe 15 minutes or so. The practitioner that she was there to see had a fully booked schedule however, and they had taken the next appointment because the patient was there early. I could tell that it had taken the woman a while to get to the clinic because the complete and total frustration of her trip was written all over her (parking was impossible and the nearest tube station was closed at the time). To make matters worse she had her baby with her (I think the appointment was for him actually) and he was screaming and crying. I remember trying to be as gracious as possible when I told her that the next patient was already being seen and there was a chance that she would have to pay for the appointment because that was company policy (a no-show fee=cost of the appointment). The woman started crying. And I still remember her face, seeing how exhausted she was from a baby with colic who cried all the livelong day. I wanted to hug her. But I didn't for fear that she would think I was some crazy, psychotic American who didn't know anything about propriety or manners. I wish I had offered to watch her baby in my office while she went down to the bathroom to get some kleenex or cry or just take a break from the constant screaming.

I think that's one of the biggest regrets in my life: I saw her need, but I didn't do anything about it. I could have, quite easily, but I did nothing. I wish I had done something more for her...I don't know why, but I keep being reminded of that episode and I just keep wishing I had done something different.