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Walking through the door I immediately noticed the lights were dim, and the room seemed to reflect the clouds that were lurking outside the hospital windows. At first, I didn’t see the young boy but noticed his parents, who were standing alone looking out separate windows as if they were looking up to heaven praying for a simple moment of peace.

 

As I walked further into the room, that is when I noticed him sitting in a wheelchair, wrapped in a white blanket and wearing a halo, “Hello.” I said. “Happy Valentine’s Day!”

 

The young boy looked up with a silent stare and said not a word. I continued, “I’m here from Owie BowWowie and Friends and you have an Arf Angel who wanted to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day and give you a friend that understands what it’s like to have an owie or two, and he’s someone you can talk to when you feel as if you have no one to talk to.” I said. 

 

Noticing that this family was needing some privacy, I didn’t open the box where Owie was hiding,  I simply said, “Well, I’m going to leave your special friend here for you, and when you are ready you can open the box. Happy Valentine’s Day!”

 

I looked over at his family, smiled, and walked out of his hospital room as quickly as I could. I had never felt so many emotions in a room before, and when the door was closed I started crying. I couldn’t find the words to describe the emotions that had come over me, so Sandie, our Child Life Director gave me a hug and said, “You just stay here, wash your face,  and I’ll go deliver this  Owie in the next room. We can’t have them see you crying.”

 

She smiled and left.  There happened to be a sink outside the door which I walked out of so I walked over to the sink and was washing away my tears when all of a sudden the door flung open, only the woman who opened the door was not the same woman who was standing by the window a few moments prior. No, this woman was smiling and while she was flinging open the door she said with excitement, “ HEY, YOU WANT TO COME BACK IN AND SEE MY SON SMILE?”

 

“What?” I asked.

 

“Do you want to come back to his room and see him smile?”

 

I turned off the water and followed his mother into the room, only this time the lights were turned on, and his father was no longer over by the window, but standing behind his son, and as I came around his wheelchair,  that is when I saw him and he was smiling!

 

Then he said, “Hey lady, this dog is cool. Thank you!”

 

A few moments later, Sandie came into the room and asked, “Would you mind if we took a picture of you with your Owie?”

 

He smiled and his mother said, “Oh please… Take a picture of my son smiling. I haven’t seen him smile in such a long time. I love that dog!”

 

Before I left the young boy allowed me to give him a hug, and since that day,  there's not a day that goes by where I don't remember Owie's Arf Angels, because they are the ones who make these deliveries PAWSible. 

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Story told by Gina Meyer