For the most part, it was a pretty normal day at the OAP Grand Lake clinic. My father was visiting from out of town. I was working, but mentioned that he could come in for an acupuncture treatment at the end of my shift. When I finished work, we could hang out; maybe go for a walk to the lake or something. He took me up on my offer. Within minutes, he was totally passed out. My shift came to an end. Lori came in and started working. I tidied up and did all my chart notes. My father was still very asleep. I saw a gap in Lori’s schedule and plugged myself in. While I am always working on getting better sleep, I figured I’d also ask for a few needles to be more patient with my father. I sat in the chair next to him so that if he woke up he’d know where I was. Lori plugged me and asked me if I had a wake up time. I told her to get me up whenever my father woke up. Soon I was asleep, too.

I didn’t know it, but in the meantime, my wife and my daughter also scheduled two last minute appointments. They came in while I was asleep and quietly set up a nest of pillows blankets in the chair across from me. My daughter was in pre-school and still very little at the time. When my wife and I would bring her in for acupuncture, we would have her sitting on our laps and we’d have a nice long snuggle to go with our acu-nap.

When I woke up, there were 3 generations of my family in the room with me: My father, my wife, and my daughter. It warmed my heart to know that we were all peacefully sharing space together. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever experienced so much silence and peace with so much family around. It was truly a magical moment.