444

I had the unusual occasion to give a talk in the hospital emergency department this morning before 7 am. It was so out of my schedule that I nervously laid awake in bed at 4:44 am. Being Chinese, I wasn't sure that was a very good omen since that is the number for death (in Cantonese, the number 4 sounds like the word for being dead, so three "deaths" in a row is usually not a good sign). On a tangent, I remember in high school that my best friend's boyfriend's mother had a license plate with a string of 4's in it because she had specifically requested that she be issued a license number that was easy to remember. Good thing she wasn't Chinese.

It was still as black as night when I left the house, and the roads were shiny wet in the drizzle. When I made my way to the ED through the hospital, I passed the frosted windows of the chapel on the main floor and caught a glimpse of a few staff members in scrubs with their heads bowed in morning prayer. Above me a surgical resident crossed the catwalk to the O.R. without making a sound in his sneakers. The wide expanse of the main corridor I walked was empty and white. It was all very peaceful, a moment in time that I don't often see, absolute serenity in this place usually bustling with activity and work. It was a very nice way to start the day.