She chuckled and moved ahead and grabbed a cup of coffee and some water. As she waited for Ryatt to come in behind her, she realized his tray was overfull, and he was on crutches today.
Immediately she said, “Let me put this down, and I’ll come right back.” She raced over, found an empty table, left her tray, and then came back to help Ryatt.
He looked at her, with a mock grin. “One of these days I’ll do this without help. Although it will probably be when I’m in the wheelchair or finally on my prosthetic.”
“Hey,” she said, “that day’s ahead of you, but it doesn’t have to be today.”
“You guys are all just way too understanding and helpful. In the previous place where I was, people would laugh to see me fall and wipe out.”
“That would just make me very sad.”
“People are people,” Ryatt said. “Some came from the heart, and some just from viciousness because they were happy it wasn’t them in our situation.”
“Still no excuse for it,” she stated stoutly.
He grinned. “And that’s why you’re a nice person, and those others weren’t.”
She shrugged. “Life’s too short to not be nice,” she murmured. “It’s a hard enough thing for each of us to get along in this world,” she explained. “So doing itandhelping somebody else get along a little easier should give us brownie points.”
“Unless,” Ryatt pointed out, “you’re doing itjustfor the brownie points, and then, of course, you don’t get brownie points at all.”
At that, she started to laugh. “Unfortunately I think you’re quite right there too.”
Lunch was ajovial affair, and Ryatt was happy to see Lana back in a good mood. She’d seemed almost too introspective and sad a few days ago, and he’d worried that some of this stuff was gettingto her. But today she seemed to be back to normal, if a little too busy and chaotic in her world. “Are you dealing with those fears that you were talking about the other day?” he asked her, when she’d finished eating.
She looked up, shrugged. “I mightthinkthat I am. I’m not sure that I’m succeeding though.”
He nodded. “Isn’t that the truth? We do the best you can, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re accomplishing what we think we need to. And I’m not sure we ever have the answer to it either. At what point in time are we supposed to just acknowledge that life is a challenge, and we should do the best we can and keep moving?”
She nodded. “I hear you there,” she murmured. “Sometimes we should just let it be as is, maybe let something else take the number one slot. I think sometimes you need to take a closer look, and then the trick really is to know when to do one or the other. And not to get hung up on it, to not forget to enjoy life and those around you,” she murmured, as she took a sip of her coffee. “When you think about it, as soon as you deal with one issue, another one’ll come along anyway.”
“So does that mean we don’t even bother starting?” he teased, with a big grin.
“Maybe,” she admitted, “at least sometime, when it seems so hard,not botheringwould be an easy answer, right?”
“An easy answer maybe,” he agreed, “but, in my case, I’m supposed to do a lot of that kind of introspection here—almost as homework—so easy answers won’t get me anywhere. You can bet that I’ve still got that whole team behind me, waiting for me to show progress.”
“Showing progress is one thing though,” she noted. “Being forced to feel like you must progress or you don’t get to stay, that’s a whole different story. And we will start doing some stafftraining in that area, particularly to help with the patients’ fears in that regard.”
He stared at her, nodding. “You know what? That’s probably a good idea.”
“I think so. I did bring it up with Dani, and she likes the idea of doing more along that line.”
“Good,” he said. “I think it’s a mistake for anybody to get a little too complacent about who and what they are in life, especially if you don’t start to see what’s going on around you.”
“And yet, in a place like this, I think we’re all just so busy,” she added quietly, “and every day happens so fast and goes by before you’ve had a chance to even register it’s over. Then you’re on to the next day and all new problems.”
“I get that,” Ryatt replied. “And the patient rotation must also change constantly, so that the staff are always looking at new problems, new issues, and new people. That kind of training is something that has to be introduced right from the beginning, when each new patient arrives,” he murmured.
“I was thinking of that,” she noted. “It should be just almost like one of the golden rules when you arrive—what to expect, what not to expect, how to handle disappointment, and what to do when you’re starting to worry about your progress or lack of progress.”
He nodded. “And that doesn’t necessarily have to be laid out quite so clearly in black-and-white but at least have people know that they can freely ask questions, that they have options.”
She smiled. “And, in your case, good options.”
“I hope so,” he said. “I’m feeling like I’m working hard and getting back some of what I put into it.”
“I think that’s really a great stage to reach,” she shared, “especially after all those times where you put in the work and didn’t see the benefits yet.”