From The Mind Of Wag...

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The Name Beneath the Title | Remember: Stories about uncovering what was never really lost.

The first time someone asked him what he did, Daniel answered out of habit. “I’m the principal at—” Then he stopped. He had retired six weeks earlier. “Was”, he said. “I was the principal.” The woman smiled and asked which school. He told her. They talked for another minute before someone called her across the room. Nothing uncomfortable had happened. Still, on the drive home, he kept hearing that one word. Was. For twenty-eight years, he had known how to introduce himself. There was a school attached to his name. A building he could point to. A reason people called. Now he gave his name and waited for the next question. On Thursday, his daughter asked whether he could pick up his grandson from school. “Just this once”, she said. “I have an appointment.” He arrived twenty minutes early. When Owen climbed into the car, he dropped his backpack between his feet and pulled the door shut harder than necessary. “How was your day?” “Fine.” Daniel put the car in drive. At the first light, he n...

The Map Without Roads | Remember: Stories about uncovering what was never really lost.

The map had no roads. No highways. No street names. No distances between towns. Just a handful of crooked lines, several small circles and a few words written in the shaky handwriting of an old man. He found it folded inside his father’s Bible. At first, he thought it was a child’s drawing. The paper had yellowed, and the folds had become so thin he was afraid they might tear when he opened it. In the upper right corner, his father had written two words. For Daniel. That was his name. He sat down. His father had been gone for almost six months and Daniel had finally begun sorting through the things he’d left behind. Most of it was ordinary. Old receipts. Reading glasses. A collection of pens that no longer worked. Birthday cards saved for reasons no one could explain. His father had never been a man who threw much away. Daniel had inherited that habit, although he would have denied it. He studied the paper again. Near the top was a small circle labeled The Big Oak. Below it, another ci...

A Transplant Isn’t a Cure | An Organ Donation Educational Moment

There’s a moment after a successful transplant when it can look like the story is over. The failing organ is gone. The donated organ is working. The recipient survived. Eventually, there may be pictures of them smiling. Going home. Returning to work. Celebrating a transplant anniversary. Living again. From the outside, it can look like: They’re fixed. But there’s something important to understand about organ transplantation: A transplant can save your life without ending your medical story. The Body Knows It Isn’t Yours A transplanted organ may be exactly what someone needs to stay alive. But the recipient’s immune system doesn’t understand the story behind it. It doesn’t know about the donor. It doesn’t understand the gift. It doesn’t know that this organ is the reason its owner is still alive. It recognizes something foreign. And its natural response can be to attack and kill it. That is rejection. So transplant recipients need medications that suppress (fool) the immune system and h...

Someone Said Yes. What Happens Next? | An Organ Donation Educational Moment

Someone said yes. Maybe that person registered as an organ donor years earlier. Maybe a family is now honoring the decision their loved one made. Maybe a family, in the middle of an unimaginable loss, has been asked to consider donation. However that moment arrives, we often talk about the yes as though it is the end of the story. It isn’t. In many ways, it is the beginning of an extraordinary chain of events. Because a decision to donate does not mean doctors simply remove an organ, find someone who needs it and perform a transplant. What happens between donation becoming possible and another person receiving an organ involves evaluation, coordination, matching, medical judgment, transportation and teams of people working within very real time constraints. UNOS First, Donation Has to Be Possible Not everyone who wants to donate will ultimately be able to donate organs. Medical professionals evaluate a potential donor to determine whether organ donation is medically possible and which...

The Letter Never Sent | Remember: Stories about uncovering what was never really lost.

Do the words we never say disappear or do we carry them with us? The letter had been in the drawer for twenty-seven years. He found it while looking for a passport. That was the irritating part. He wasn’t sorting through old photographs or cleaning out boxes in the attic. He wasn’t searching for memories. He needed his passport. Instead, beneath expired warranties, instruction manuals for appliances they no longer owned and a handful of birthday cards his wife apparently couldn’t bring herself to throw away, he found an envelope. His handwriting was on the front. Dad. Nothing else. No address. No stamp. Just one word. He knew what it was before he opened it. He sat down on the edge of the bed. For a while, he simply held it. His father had been dead for nineteen years. The letter was older than that. Twenty-seven years earlier, they had argued. He couldn’t remember exactly what started it anymore. Something about work. Or money. Or one of those decisions a grown son believes is entirel...

The Husband Who Gave His Wife the Heel of the Bread | Wait... Is That Actually True?

Wait… Is That Actually True? It was her fiftieth birthday. As he had done so many mornings before, her husband brought her breakfast in bed. He had prepared everything himself and arranged it carefully on the tray. But when she looked at the toast, her heart sank. Once again, he had given her the heel of the loaf. The hard, crust-covered piece she had never liked. Of all the days, she had hoped this one might be different. She had hoped that after all their years together, he might finally notice. That on her fiftieth birthday, he might give her one of the soft slices from the middle instead of keeping it for himself. Her disappointment finally broke through. “Why do you always give me the heel?” Her husband looked surprised. Then he answered: “Because it’s my favorite part.” All those years, she had believed he was giving her the piece no one wanted. All those years, he believed he was giving her the best. What she experienced as thoughtlessness had been intended as love. I have alway...