The Nurse

The nurse left the hospital at six in the morning. Going on ten years now of the same 10-6 night shift at the Community Hospital. Her scrubs smelled of a clean medicinal aroma, almost like the smell of a nursing home. She leaves work, and begins the long drive home to where her three boys are still asleep in their beds, waiting for mom to wake them up as part of their daily routine. As she pulls into the driveway, tired and eager to get under the covers, she realizes that the thought of going to bed is still a long ways away. No time for this night owl to close her eyes yet, this nurse has to get her boys off to school.

When she gets inside, it isn't long before she must begin her next set of chores for the day. Breakfast needs to be made, lunches packed, and the most challenging task of all, getting those boys up out of their beds. "Boys! Get up! It's time to get ready for school!" She announces as she goes into their room and flicks on the light. Her mission on any given weekday at this point of the day is to get her kids up and out of bed, ready for school, fed, and out to the bus stop. Hopefully, on time, so as to prevent from adding yet another task to her morning duties, by having to drive the kids to school herself!

This nurse, who is rarely ever seen in anything but her work uniform is the backbone of this family and she is determined to make sure that her kids are set out on the right path each and every day. She never seems to stop. At least, not that I have ever seen. And trust me I would know, I am one of those three boys. One of those boys that gives her hell everyday when she tries to wake me up out of my beauty rest slumber. Her nursing tendencies are constantly surfacing while she tends to her motherly duties at home. I would imagine that her motherly tendencies often radiate through her duties at work, with her patients, at the hospital as well.

She is a very kind person, selfless in every way. She's a hard worker too. I know this because she demands the same work ethic out of my brothers and I whenever we do odds and ends jobs for the neighbors and for other people in our giant family. Today, her morning mission has been a success, and after watching her youngest child step onto the big yellow bus #11, she can finally take a sigh of relief and begin to relax for a little while. She finally is able to retreat to her dark bedroom, where UV curtains are hung to block all light from the morning sun. It isn't long however, before she must get up and start her day all over again. By the time her kids return from school, she's up and at it again. Football and soccer practice, cooking dinner, and doing the laundry, are just a few of her evening to-do's. Sometimes I wonder how she has the strength to even go to work at night. I don't know how she does it! On top of all the things she has going on at home, I can't imagine what she must go through at night while we are all soft asleep.

Sometimes she tells me, she has to work in the Emergency Room, and take care of badly injured people coming in through those giant sliding glass doors, marked with the red cross. Sometimes she has to care for, and take care of younger children, even younger than us, who are too sick to be released to their own homes, and older individuals whom are in their last days of life on earth. And yet, she still has time to be a full-time mother for my brothers and I, to take us to church on Sunday mornings, to throw us parties for our birthdays, and chaperone our school field trips. It's truly remarkable.

I am all grown up now, and that nurse, well she is not a nurse anymore, but she is still my mother. She will always be the greatest gift God has ever given me. When I look back to those days when she seemingly had super-powers, and more strength than superman, I am instantly inspired to become the best version of myself that I can be. And to have someday of built as impactful, as impressive, and as memorable of a legacy in this world as my mom has built. To have set an example for someone that led them down a path of progressive development in their life, just like this person did for me.