While leading my entourage of medstudents on rounds today (had an unusually bigger group this week) we came upon man and his son in the hospital lobby.

Their interactions made me pause, and really does show one father's simple act of love for his son.

The son was a 40+ years old, also fairly obese (medically, it's a BMI of >50). He had obvious issues walking, and was fairly out of breath. His shoelaces were also undone, but as he was, his tummy was too protuberant to allow him to even bend down. His father, probably in 70's, was a dearly old bespectacled man, who walked with a bit of a shoulder stoop.

"Son, let me do up your shoelaces for you."

And so, he did. There, in the busy lobby of the hospital, the father nonchalantly bends down to tie the shoelaces of his adult son (who was probably somewhat embarassed).

It wasn't something we were expecting to see, waiting for the elevators to start rounds. And true, one could have been judgmental about how the son had let himself get into that shape. But no, I'd much rather see that moment for what it really was, a moment when a father was simply being a father to his son, and the rest of the world didn't matter.

I'm glad they shared that heartwarming moment with the rest of us, though.