The robin returned to the hospital window

Dear Delyara, I spent eleven weeks in hospital after a bone-marrow transplant. From my bed, I could see one bare tree and a narrow strip of car park. A robin began landing on the window ledge each morning. The nurses said it was probably looking at its reflection, but I decided it was visiting me. During the worst days, when infection meant no one could enter without gowns and masks, I waited for that small red chest to appear. After discharge, I was frightened to go outside. My immune system was fragile, and the world seemed full of invisible threats. Today, six months later, I walked through the hospital garden without a wheelchair. A robin landed on the path ahead of me. It may not have been the same bird. I chose not to investigate. I followed it past two benches before it flew into a hedge. For weeks, recovery had been blood counts, medication schedules, and distances measured in metres. Today, it became a bird leading me farther than I had planned to walk.