Hope and Encouragement ....

Two women, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One was allowed to sit up in her bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from her lungs. Her bed was next to the room's only window. The other woman had to spend all her time flat on her back. The women talked for hours on end. They spoke of their families, their homes, their jobs, their travels.
Every afternoon when the woman in the bed by the window could sit up, she would pass the time by describing to her roommate all the things she could see outside the window.
The woman in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where her world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
As the woman by the window described the scenery in exquisite detail, the woman on the other side of the room would close her eyes and imagine the picturesque scene; a park with a lovely lake, ducks and swans playing on the water while children sailed their model boats, young lovers walking arm in arm amidst flowers of every color, the city skyline.
One warm afternoon the woman by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other woman couldn't hear the band - she could see it in her mind's eye.
Days and weeks passed.
One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the woman by the window, who had died peacefully in her sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other woman asked if she could be moved next to the window.
Slowly, painfully, she propped herself up on one elbow to take her first look at the real world outside. She strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed.
It faced a blank wall. She asked the nurse what could have compelled her deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window.

--- Author Unknown