Todays Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul

[Guest guest]

The Crooked Smile

By C. Brown, M.D.

As we rolled five-year-old into the MRI room, I tried to imagine

what

she must be feeling. She had suffered a stroke that left half of her body

paralyzed, had been hospitalized for treatment of a brain tumor, and had

recently lost her father, her mother and her home. We all wondered how

would react.

She went into the MRI machine without the slightest protest, and we

began

the exam. At that time, each imaging sequence required the patient to

remain

perfectly still for about five minutes. This would have been difficult for

anyone - and certainly for a five-year-old who had suffered so much. We

were

taking an image of her head, so any movement of her face, including talking,

would result in image distortion.

About two minutes into the first sequence, we noticed on the video

monitor

that 's mouth was moving. We heard a muted voice over the intercom. We

halted the exam and gently reminded not to talk. She was smiling and

promised not to talk.

We reset the machine and started over. Once again we saw her facial

movement and heard her voice faintly. What she was saying wasn't clear.

Everyone was becoming a little impatient, with a busy schedule that had been

put

on hold to perform an emergency MRI on .

We went back in and slid out of the machine. Once again, she

looked

at us with her crooked smile and wasn't upset in the least. The

technologist,

perhaps a bit gruffly, said, " , you were talking again, and that causes

blurry pictures. "

's smile remained as she replied, " I wasn't talking. I was

singing.

You said no talking. " We looked at each other, feeling a little silly.

" What were you singing? " someone asked.

" 'Jesus Loves Me,' " came the barely perceptible reply. " I always sing

'Jesus Loves Me' when I'm happy. "

Everyone in the room was speechless. Happy? How could this little

girl be

happy? The technologist and I had to leave the room for a moment to regain

our

composure as tears began to fall.

Many times since that day, when feeling stressed, unhappy or

dissatisfied

with some part of my life, I have thought of and felt both humbled and

inspired. Her example made me see that happiness is a marvelous gift - free

to

anyone willing to accept it.