Just a Visitor

Things you discover when someone you love is in the hospital.
• the color of your socks really matters. Orange prohibits a patient from all manner of independent perambulation.
• graduate to blue and you can walk down the corridor without someone hovering by your side
• roommates are the luck of the draw
• some roommates extoll the love of kale, Ezekiel Bread, and all things natural -- but still order chips for lunch
• it 's never quiet and hospitals love the middle of the night
• everything chirps, lights up, or pulsates
• the menu choices have fancy names
• mute televisions are a godsend