`Privilege of competing somehow gives great purpose to living'

It was Christmas morning. This had always been my most anticipated morning of the year. However, I couldn't get up because I had already been pretty well assured that the only thing I wanted for Christmas was not likely to be possible. I was playing basketball in school and I needed a basketball to practice with like two of my friends had. I could understand and perhaps accept that we could not afford it, but that rationale couldn't cover how badly I wanted a basketball.

Thud…thud…I heard it coming from the living room. Could it be? I slipped out of bed and into the living room. There was my sister bouncing the BASKETBALL. Christmas had come. My brother cut down a big tree, constructed a backboard and fashioned a goal out of something. He set it up on our level front yard.

My other, most beloved sport is nursing. It takes knowledge, practice and a great deal of personal passion. I always wanted my patients to get better and never to die. If they do, your most challenging skills are called upon.

My most memorable patient was a very young girl that had been brought to the hospital from a home high in the mountains of Mexico. The nurse that brought her was a Wycliffe Bible Translator. The little girl was deaf and had no outer ears. She wore her earrings tied with a ribbon to her hair.

She was here for exploratory surgery by Dr. Jack Hough, a world renown ear surgeon. I was doing relief work on the pediatric ward that week. Because she was scheduled for surgery, I needed to give her a pre-op hypo. I had made early rounds and tried to create some kind of rapport with her.

Dr. Hough discovered she had adequate bones of hearing in the middle ear. With his skill and care, he tested her that she could hear. He referred her to a plastic surgeon in Florida. He constructed her outer ears and she went home with ears and earrings.

How fortunate I have been participating in these winning games. Winning is joyous, losing is usually painful, but the privilege of competing somehow gives great purpose to living.

Mary E. Evans, Tuttle