I was just another aging rider passing through a hospital lobby that afternoon—another man with too many roads behind him, too many losses tucked into the lining of his jacket, and not much left in the world that could surprise me.
I’d seen accidents on highways, strangers fighting in diners, families splitting apart, and men who had no idea how to rebuild themselves. Life had taught me not to react.
Not to flinch. Not to feel more than necessary. But the moment I stepped into that lobby, all of that vanished.

A young mother stood there, trembling, her arms wrapped desperately around her little girl. The child looked so small I could have held her in one hand. Her head—bald from treatments—rested weakly against her mother’s neck.
Sleepless nights. Endless worry. Too many conversations with doctors she never wanted to meet.