Day 55

I love being a nurse.  I love making people smile.  I love my job.

Grateful for work that I love

Beautiful people are all around us.  Not necessarily beautiful as in pretty to look at.  Beauty, I really believe, comes from within.  I think its taken me until now...this point in my life...to stop comparing myself to others, and just...be.  There are many things I have seen as a nurse.  I have seen life start, and life end.  I have seen many of the inbetweens, too.  I have listened to stories told by war veterans, stories told by a Mother, a Grandmother, about the farms they lived on, about their lives.  I have watched an alzheimer's patient pet a dog...and watched the love and comfort happen in the patients eyes...and the dog's.  I have found that I love to listen.  I love to listen to these stories.  I love to help.  I love to hear a simple "thank you, that was very kind."  I may not be good at this in my everyday life, but I am a good nurse.  I take good care of my patients...always have...no matter where I have worked, who I am caring for.  A human being needs love, compassion, comfort, and everything else.

Now, I work with people who cannot talk.  I work with people that cannot see, cannot swallow, cannot eat...people that have seizures, that need medical monitoring every minute of every day.  I was scared as hell to change from geriatric nursing to high medical needs/special needs nursing.  I was scared about seizures.  I hoped one never ever ever happened when I was working...then it happened, and I was scared as hell, but I was ok...I was calm, did what I needed to do, and she was ok.

Maybe they cannot talk.  Maybe they cannot see.  Maybe they cannot walk around like you and I.  Maybe they cannot call their family and friends. 

Maybe...just maybe...that's ok.

No, its more than ok...it makes them beautiful in my eyes.  They make my heart sing.  These young adults that I work with, they smile, they laugh, they whisper, and they sign.  They even laugh. 

*just like you and me*

They are BEAUTIFUL.  Just as they are. 

My girls...they will come to my work, and they are not afraid.  They go and hug the kids, they read to them, they play ball with them.  I am trying to teach them...its ok to be different...because different is beautiful if you are not scared to find out. 

Gone are the days where different is made fun of.  I have an amazing job, and I have the opportunity to work with these amazing kids.  I have the opportunity to make a difference, and show as many people as I can...that BEAUTY...is within us.

ALL.

*Don't be afraid to be different.*