I manage a dental office where I live. I get to work with the most wonderful ladies. One in particular has opened my eyes to what unconditional love really means. I've always teased her about being a baby magnet because she sniffs them out if they get within range. Patients will bring in their newborns and within minutes, there Mel is, cooing and touching the infant. All babies respond to her. She is the ultimate nanny/mommy. She's really bested herself with this last random act of kindness.
We all know a young mother who just gave birth to a darling little boy about four months ago. Seems she ran into some trouble with her room mate, who took out a restraining order on her, kicked her and her newborn out of the apartment, and accused her of domestic violence. Now, we all do not know this girl well enough to hypothesize about the accusations but she and her infant are now homeless, living in their car. A few weeks went by and this young mother paid us a visit. She had gotten a new girlfriend and they were both homeless with five children between the two of them. She had mentioned how well her son sleeps at night since he slept right through a fight and a window getting broken! I was shocked but not too surprised at hearing this. Babies have no choice on who they are born to and some women are better mothers than others. Sadly to say, the children are the innocent victims. Clearly, this young girl was not prepared to be a mother. She tangled with a man, got pregnant, decided to have the baby and raise it by herself. Very brave but very naive of her. Obviously, reality did not set in until the State of Alaska is now actively in process of removing her infant from her custody.
This young girl, approached my coworker last week requesting that she temporarily physically take the baby. She did not want to lose her son and was reaching out for help. I believe she has been doing so since she gave birth; knowing that maybe she made a mistake by keeping the baby. Any mother can tell that this young woman loves her son. My coworker gladly offered to help this young woman and agreed to take care of the infant temporarily. One of my male coworkers warned Mel that she was making a mistake by doing so. I believe that things done with good intentions and a warm heart are never wrong. This is admirable and noble of Mel to offer this. Sure, she may run the risk of getting too attached to this child, of giving love and attention to this child, of taking care of this child's needs but this is true, unconditional love. This is a helpless child and she is giving him succor and comfort that his biological mother cannot give right now. She knows full well that his mother could do scandalous and unscrupulous things regarding the situation but her heart is pure and her concern is for the well-being of this little boy.
This is why I love my coworkers. We are all in the healthcare field and we are nurturers. We are the ones who make people feel better through tender, loving care. We are all on the spectrum to various degrees. Even as bristly and stern as I am, I still have a huge capacity for compassion when it comes to human suffering. Unconditional love. I recommend it to everyone. Perform random acts of kindness. It is truly rewarding and soothes the soul.
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