After we all agreed on our plan, donations from the staff poured in! We had collected enough money to buy food and gift cards for the whole family, but it didn't feel like enough. The following weekend, I was taking the train to visit my boyfriend (now husband) and found myself thinking of this family again. I wanted to do something more for them because they have been through so much. Then it came to me. I remembered making a fleece blanket for my 6th-grade teacher when she was going through family struggles, and how much it meant to her. I thought about how simple the blanket was to make and the meaning it held, and well... that was that! As soon as I got back, I ran to my local fabric store to get supplies. I picked out the fabric pictured here - something for the holidays, but could be used all year.

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I returned to the hospital for another shift, and to my happy surprise, he was discharged to the med/surg floor! And right before the holidays! I was so excited that I ran up to give him and his family the blanket I had just made for them. From the moment I gave them the blanket, I knew this was something important. This blanket meant more to the family than just a warm, colorful blanket. To them, the blanket meant we were family, and that I had seen everything they had been through in the past weeks. The food and gift cards were a blessing, but the blanket was special. As F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "... That was the beginning and end of everything."

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