Blue Eyes

His blue eyes gazed at me helplessly, hopelessly, and vulnerably. I wanted to read meaning into Robert’s eyes knowing full well that he would never recover. He was a patient with a traumatic brain injury. After graduating high school, he joyfully went on a graduation trip to Canada. He and his buddies drove day and night to get to their campsite. One night after he had just sat shotgun, the truck entered a construction site and slammed into rebar, which lodged in Robert’s forehead. Many surgeries later, he now occupied a bed on the neuro floor. Unable to move his contractured body, he only communicated with his beautiful blue eyes. He would blink and squeeze your hand when you asked him if he wanted to go home. His doctors, therapists and nurses had become his family; we all loved this 18-year-old boy with the uncertain future and cared for him like a brother.