July 23, 2002
I never dreamt of being a nurse as a kid. The only times I can ever remember thinking about nurses was when I read this book that had been my mom's about a little girl from the 50s, "Nurse Nancy," who mended her brother's owies. The thing that I liked about it was that she had cool colored bandaids in the shapes of stars and hearts and so on. Apparently the book originally came with bandaids. They had been used long before my time. I was the only girl in my family in a neighborhood of little boys and old people. I was able to entertain myself very easily growing up. I would play school, taping a piece of construction paper to the wall and using it as my chalkboard. I would play secretary, answering a pretend phone, making my own checks and running my little office. Then there were my barbies. I wanted to be a gymnast in the Olympics (my best friend and I would pretend we were Nadia Comaneci on a regular basis). I would make my barbies gymnasts. They would break their arms and I would make them kleenex casts. I even took gymnastics, but got about as far as cart wheels and wlking across the balance beam. I also had a brief phase in where I was into ice skating. Sucking at it myself, my barbie was a pro. I suppose I lived vicariously through my barbies. I guess it wouldn't have been very fun to play nurse barbie.
I don't know how I ended up a nurse. I don't think I even knew what a nurse did until I was in Nursing school. I think I like being a nurse. I like helping people, feeling like I have made a difference. I am constantly learning, which I enjoy. It kind of scares me sometimes, that I am responsible for these very sick people during my twelve hour shift. I am the eyes for the doctors. I am a patient advocate. Their lives are in my hands. I am learned so much over the past year and have grown a lot from my experience. Sometimes I can't believe I do what I do.
