Did You Ever Want to be a Nurse?
When you were 7 or 8, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a nurse. Nurses were glamorous – they wore white uniforms with matching white shoes and hats, and I was convinced that’s what I’d be. It wasn’t long before I was on to the next thing I wanted to be – a veterinarian, then a pilot, then a performer – and the idea of being a nurse was as over and done with as an outgrown pair of shoes.
Thankfully for us all, real nurses weren’t as mercurial as I was in their pursuit of a career. Thankfully for us all, once they decided on nursing as a profession, they schooled and trained and worked their way into a career that’s probably more like a calling for them than a job. The work is hard, the hours are long, the patients are often surly, and yet they maintain their professional demeanor and take care of their patients, whether those patients are human or companion animal.Â
This week is a trifecta of nursing holidays – it’s Pediatric Nurses Week, Emergency Nurses Week,...
