University of Alberta Hospital Bathroom Stall Graffiti

Hospitals are sad. I sat in one today, waiting for my little one undergoing dental surgery (just a reality for him/us; not the more heartbroken or sorrowful reasons that take many people to ER, surgery, disease/illness treatments.)

I'd had a latté and a bottle of water so I needed to pee.

The bathroom stall I chose was surprisingly up-lifting. Bathroom stall graffiti is usually cruel or mean-spirited or shaming... this was quite the opposite. I only had the camera on my phone to capture images with, meaning the phrases in ballpoint pen were too lacking in contrast with the stall wall to be picked up.

I will go back. (Let's collectively imagine me skulking around hospital bathrooms to see if this was an isolated stall or a hospital bathroom movement...)

For now, I offer this one phrase of encouragement scrawled in what appeared to be Sharpie marker:

A lovely thing to encounter in a place full of desolate, desperate people, illness, and death.