On this eve of the start to Nurses’ Week, I find myself reflecting on how indescribably unique and rich and crazy this profession is. I am forever changed because of my experiences as a nurse, and I am so thankful for all of it.  Through nursing, 

I have had the opportunities:

• To watch a victim of senseless gun violence make a wildly unexpected recovery after sustaining gunshot wounds in vital organs
• To speak into the heart of a mom of a SIDS patient, that it was 200% not her fault and she should never carry that burden with her throughout her life
• To see a patient nearly unresponsive for months make a complete turnaround, walking and talking as herself 
• To gently carry family members through saying final good-byes to their most precious children, holding them up literally and figuratively
• To watch parents summon the deepest courage to seek what was best for their children, even as it broke their hearts
• To give a final honor to organ donors, and watch organ procurement in an operating room
• To be a part of a team that bonds tightly together in a worldwide pandemic with tenacious determination to continue caring for those in need
• To witness stories that embody the most gritty, hidden, beautiful love and endurance in family
• To see fellow healthcare workers step in as the lived proxy for true family, when hospitalized children are all but abandoned by blood relatives
• To behold devastation and to behold miracles

I have learned:

• How play, patience, and a gentle voice go a long way, therapeutically, with a child
• How hope can show up far beyond circumstances
• What it looks like to parent and love a child that most of the world has entirely rejected
• How to own really hard mistakes and still move forward
• How to sit with the discomfort of deeply complicated situations that I cannot fix, and give my presence as a small offering of comfort
• How to confront really angry, scary, and/or manipulative people with empathy, dignity and personal fortitude
• How nightmarishly awful humans can be
• How breathtakingly astounding humans can be
• How ruinous modern medicine can be
• How miraculous modern medicine can be
• How scared we are to die
• How courageous we can be to die
• How scared we are to live
• How courageous we can be to live
• How faith can be so simple and so complicated
• How blessed we are to have one another in this wild life

It is such a privilege to be a nurse.

Happy Nurses’ Week to all of my fellow nurses! I am so thankful to be in your ranks.