Hospitals Aren't All Bad

Story Submitted by Jeremy:

Jenna was a nurse (and amateur artist) who I spoke to online.  I asked her if she wanted to have a date, and despite her busy schedule, she said that she would make the time.  We arranged to meet after her shift ended on a Friday evening.

Friday evening rolled around and she called to let me know that she'd be late in coming off of her shift, as she had to cover for someone.  She said, "We can meet up in the hospital cafe.  Not romantic, and I'll be in scrubs, but at least we'll get to meet each other."

I didn't stand on ceremony, so that sounded good to me.  I went to the hospital and made it to the cafe.  She was a little late, but it wasn't a problem.

She had just finished saying, "Nice to meet you," when her beeper went off.  "Shit," she said, "I've got to go back upstairs."

She did, and I ordered a coffee while I waited for her.  She came back down close to an hour later, full of apologies and insisted on paying for my dinner.

We had eaten about two bites when her pager went off again.  "This is really unusual," she reassured me, "You can go if you want to.  I don't know how long this will be.  I'm really sorry."

I had brought a book, and had blocked out the evening anyway, so I didn't see any harm in waiting.  She seemed nice, based on all of the messages and phone calls we had exchanged, and from the four or five minutes we had spent together in person.  She seemed worth it.

She was gone for about a half-hour, and when she came back, she was full of apologies and said, "This all came up last minute.  I wouldn't blame you at all for leaving."

I said, "It's okay.  Don't worry about it."

She said, "I had to be on call upstairs, but I had time to make you this."

She handed me a folded piece of paper and I opened it to find a portrait of myself, done in blue pen, and very well-done.

She extended a hand across the table and said, "So I was still able to spend time with you.  Sort of."

I took her hand and thanked her.  Her shift ended shortly thereafter.

That was my first date with my wife.