Page 51 - The Early Life and Times of Bob Card
P. 51
Connections Over Time
mong the keepsakes that tell their own stories are the knitted Mr. and Mrs. Santa figures we have, perched atop
AMason jars. These were gifts from a former patient of mine, a talented knitter. I remember the moment she gave them
to us vividly. It happened after Sharon had joined me in the department of medicine in Saskatoon. A patient, for reasons
unknown, had requested a consultation with Sharon, suspecting an internal medicine issue. Sharon arrived with her team,
including a couple of residents, and the patient greeted her with a surprising remark: “Oh, Sharon, you look just like your
grandfather!” Confused, Sharon clarified, “No, no, he’s not my grandfather.” But the patient insisted, convinced she
recognized a family resemblance. As it turned out, this patient had been a nurse in Hamilton, and she had been treated by
my father years earlier for a skin condition. She had been waiting for Sharon’s visit, expecting to meet someone connected
to the man she remembered fondly. The Santas have been with us ever since, a whimsical reminder of that encounter and
of the connections we often don’t realize we’ve made.
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