The numbness that came with the initial shock of the news was fading. I could feel my throat constricting, and my eyes heated with tears. The nurse, sensing that I was about to break down, stepped toward me and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I didn’t realize how much I needed that hug until it was happening. I cried into her shoulder, into her hair, until the parking lot began to fill with other students and their families. It didn’t occur to me until later that I didn’t even know the nurse’s name.
