Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Open
    Open
    Open
    Ebook69 pages46 minutes

    Open

    By Marcus Engel& Amy Vega

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    There's a tradition at Mercy Regional Hospital that the nurses take very seriously. The window blinds are always kept closed for a patient with a good prognosis. But for a patient who’s not expected to make it, the blinds are left open so the soul can be set free when the time comes. Hope Wyatt, single mother, aspiring poet and new-to-practice nurse makes the mistake of closing the blinds on a terminally ill patient her first day on the job. Her colleagues quickly let her know what a tremendous foul-up she has made, and aren’t in any rush to let her forget about it. When Hope’s friend Will ends up in the ICU in a coma, she isn’t sure if she should leave the blinds open or closed for him. Already struggling with the hard hand that life has dealt her, Hope tries her best to hold it all together and find some peace in the turmoil around her. Inspired by Saul, the husband of a cancer patient, and Marjorie, a fellow nurse on her unit, Hope adopts a new philosophy about coping with the emotional highs and lows of caregiving. One that gives her the strength to boldly defy the tradition of the blinds, and do what she knows in her heart is right.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMarcus Engel& Amy Vega
    Release dateDec 5, 2011
    ISBN9781466042766
    Open

    Related to Open

    Related ebooks

    General Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Your Say

      Jul 22, 2019

      I remember the first weeks after finding out you were growing inside of me – the anxiety, the confusion, the reality of it all. I love you so much already, and so does your family. The peace and excitement you’ve brought us is out of this world. The

      1 min read

    • Article

      How We Conquered Our Grief

      Jul 19, 2022

      Helen Morrish, 53, is an artist. She lives in south London. Working as an art director for a women’s magazine, I had life all planned out. ‘When I’m 50, I’m quitting,’ I told my husband Stevie, then 57, in January 2016. ‘You’ve been saying that for

      4 min read

    • Article

      You Need To Be PUNISHED

      Jan 27, 2022

      You Need To Be PUNISHED
      5 min read

    • Article

      Letters

      May 28, 2021

      Today many marriages are just for sleeping and waking up together, raising kids and ageing together until death arrives. This is not right at all. I call it the malfunctioning of family units. Marriage is supposed to be enjoyable and romantic. A lot

      3 min read

    • Article

      Small Acts Of Kindness

      Jan 17, 2023

      Small Acts Of Kindness
      2 min read

    • Article

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin

      Jun 26, 2020

      Counselor of Chippewa Cabin
      5 min read

    • Article

      To The Baby Gay In Me, You Survive This

      May 26, 2023

      Looking back is beautiful. As queer people, we especially deserve reflection. We exist in a world where we see queerness celebrated, but also demonised. Where who you love, how you identify, who you are at your core can be a death sentence. Our journ

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Accidental Caregiver

      Feb 14, 2023

      The Accidental Caregiver
      9 min read

    • Article

      The Power Of THOUGHT

      Jun 29, 2023

      The Power Of THOUGHT
      4 min read

    • Article

      Reading CORNER

      Jan 8, 2023

      You’ll shed a tear for two best friends to the end This is the most devastatingly beautiful book. It is deeply, deeply sad yet also uplifting and life-affirming, perhaps surprisingly so for a novel that is largely about the end of a life. Edi and As

      3 min read

    • Article

      Wellness Work

      Aug 14, 2019

      Wellness Work
      2 min read

    • Article

      Bad Romance

      Aug 26, 2022

      Bad Romance
      3 min read

    • Article

      Your Dilemmas

      Sep 3, 2020

      Your Dilemmas
      4 min read

    • Article

      An Epilogue to Homeschooling: A Mother Hangs Up Her Homeschooling Hat…Now What?

      Oct 3, 2022

      Estimated reading time: 11 minutes — My chest feels achy. It’s felt like this for weeks now. I keep catching myself holding my breath, losing focus, reaching for something to soothe me, staring into space. This isn’t me — who is this person, I wonde

      7 min read

    • Article

      My HOBBY found me A HUBBY!

      Jun 9, 2021

      My HOBBY found me A HUBBY!
      3 min read

    • Article

      Under My skin

      Dec 2, 2021

      Holding back the tears, I didn’t want my boys, Masimo, three, and Ronaldo, one-and-a-half, to see how much pain I was truly in. It was in January this year, and for the boys, it was a day like all the others - I was in agony. I could tell they were e

      5 min read

    • Article

      From The heart

      Oct 27, 2020

      Dear Sally My step daughter often feels spirits around her. The other day I was talking to her on Facetime and I thought her husband was standing behind her until she told me he was at work. She took a picture of some poles she was selling and later

      5 min read

    • Article

      ‘Because Of Down-lock, I...

      Oct 23, 2020

      Lerato Lefafa is probably best known for the travel and foodie adventures she shares online with her fan base (leratolefafa.com). When she’s not inspiring her followers to explore the country (and beyond), she works in marketing for an energy company

      9 min read

    • Article

      That’s My Girl!

      Dec 30, 2021

      That’s My Girl!
      2 min read

    • Article

      Ghosted

      Feb 14, 2024

      IN OCTOBER 2020, I received an e-mail from a literary agent named A. who I believed would transform my life as a writer. Her message arrived after I’d spent two months querying literary agents regarding an autobiographical middle-grade novel about a

      10 min read

    • Article

      Your Dilemmas

      Feb 22, 2024

      International Executive Coach of the Year, Jo Emerson, answers your questions. Listen to her podcast Tell Me Who You Really Are on your preferred platform now. Jo’s new email course can help you build confidence – visit jo-emerson.com. Grab her book,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Earth Mother

      Mar 22, 2020

      Earth Mother
      8 min read

    • Article

      A Letter To My BIOLOGICAL DAUGHTER

      Dec 17, 2019

      Dear Daughter, I will never forget the day you were born, 47 years ago. Lying in the hospital after nine long hours of labour, in pain from a difficult birth (I still have the scars) and not even getting to hold you in my arms. You were taken away i

      4 min read

    • Article

      Our Secret

      Oct 19, 2023

      Our Secret
      5 min read

    • Article

      ‘Let’s Hope for the Best’: Featured Fiction from Carolina Setterwall

      Jul 9, 2019

      I take out my phone and snap a picture. You are two brothers and a father who will never again meet in this life, but nobody knows that yet. The post ‘Let’s Hope for the Best’: Featured Fiction from Carolina Setterwall appeared first on The Millions.

      5 min read

    • Article

      Humor The Good Woman

      Nov 1, 2019

      Humor The Good Woman
      5 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Open

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Open - Marcus Engel& Amy Vega

      There's a tradition at Mercy Regional Hospital that the nurses take very seriously. The window blinds are always kept closed for a patient with a good prognosis. But for a patient who’s not expected to make it, the blinds are left open so the soul can be set free when the time comes. Hope Wyatt, single mother, aspiring poet and new-to-practice nurse makes the mistake of closing the blinds on a terminally ill patient her first day on the job. Her colleagues quickly let her know what a tremendous foul-up she has made, and aren’t in any rush to let her forget about it. When Hope’s friend Will ends up in the ICU in a coma, she isn’t sure if she should leave the blinds open or closed for him. Already struggling with the hard hand that life has dealt her, Hope tries her best to hold it all together and find some peace in the turmoil around her. Inspired by Saul, the husband of a cancer patient, and Marjorie, a fellow nurse on her unit, Hope adopts a new philosophy about coping with the emotional highs and lows of caregiving. One that gives her the strength to boldly defy the tradition of the blinds, and do what she knows in her heart is right.

      Open

      by

      Marcus Engel & Amy Glenn Vega

      Open

      PUBLISHSED BY:

      Marcus Engel and Amy Glenn Vega on Smashwords

      Copyright © 2011 Marcus Engel and Amy Glenn Vega

      This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or have been used fictitiously. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

      All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      Smashwords Edition License Notes

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the authors’ work.

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Description

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      Chapter 7

      Chapter 8

      Chapter 9

      Chapter 10

      Acknowledgments

      About the Authors

      Chapter 1

      HOPE WYATT PULLED on her brand new scrubs and stared at herself in the mirror, glancing back and forth between her reflection and the photo on her name badge. She really liked how her picture had turned out. Every strand of her wavy brown hair was smoothed perfectly in place; her eyes weren’t squinted shut like they normally did in pictures, and she had a warm, genuine smile. She looked happy, because she was.

      Happy, and proud of the two letters behind her name: RN.

      You look like a real nurse, Mama, said Sam, her son, as he leapt onto her bed, messing up the neatly made comforter and throw pillows like only a five year old could do.

      "That’s because I am a real nurse now, honey. She spun around and tapped her finger playfully on the tip of his nose. And you, my love… you look like a little boy who needs to put on his shoes so we can get going."

      I don’t wanna go to stool today, he moaned, pulling a pillow over his head.

      The word is school, honey. Not stool.

      Skooo-wooool, he attempted. "I don’t want to go to stool today. It’s

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1