Once a year the NICU puts on a party for all it's "graduates" of years past so the parents can come show off their growing kiddos and the medical team can see how their hard work payed off. It's such a refreshing moment to be reunited on a joyous occasion outside of the stress that usually daunts the mind of a parent when they have a child in the ICU.
I signed up to help run the photo booth, thinking it'd be my cup of tea. As fun as it was, turns out the photo booth is one of the most popular sections of the entire event....and it had me breaking a sweat!
With a line of people trailing out the door, I was making one silly face after another and continuously shaking a big red nose over the camera to get the kids to look in the right direction (away from my neon green hair) for a straight hour before I let the newly-weds take over for me for a while (the party was only 2 hours long)!
I had snowcones to eat and people to see!!
So many people didn't even recognize me until they heard me talk (I look pretty in-the-rough at work, and aparently have a distictive voice).
With a Circus theme, the only limitations to the creativity brought to the table was the rule of "NO CLOWNS".......for some reason every one things they're scary???
The great people I work with came together in the spirit of community service (day shifters and night shifters united), to set up, work the stations, and clean up the big mess that invetibly appears after any good party!!!
There were cottoncandy makers, choo choo train supervisors......
.......jump house watchers.....
........name tag makers, party favor givers............
....face painters.......
...cupcake hander-outers......
.....bottled water distributers..........We had it all!!!!
There was even free goodie baskets given away by a raffle drawing........
Big props go out to our amazing first time Reunion Chairmasters who kept everything running flawlessly!!! (I had the pleasure of designing their little hats!!)
It was all smiles from the Neonatologists, who recieved much praise from the thankful parents. So many lives changed becuase of these guys......
And what's the point of running of photobooth without having a little side fun of my own??
My next night back at work I was getting requests to wear my green wig, funny since Patrick had asked me on the way home (on the day of the reunion) if I could dye my hair a crazy color becuase he loved it {the wig} so much......I'm so glad he has a "thing" for my quirkiness.
This was my very first occasion like this to attend (since I finally feel like I've stayed at a place long enough to see graduates come back), and I can't explain how fulfilling it is to see toddlers running around in the place of the itty-bitty-tiny-trouble-making-neonates-with-many-odds-against-stacked-against-their-favor they once were. It makes my job totally worth it.
Do you think Clowns are creepy/scary? Why or why not?
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