Recently I was feeling quite discouraged. It was time to get ready for my job at a tiny local hospital in Labor and Delivery. I've been a nurse for a long time, but sometimes night shift itself is discouraging. Sometimes you just don't feel good. For decades I've watched my mother and grandmother respond to times of stress with perfectly coiffed hair and elegant maquillage that includes base, eyeshadow, mascara, blush and that Southern red badge of courage: lipstick. "How does that look, Mammaw," I ask as I spray on the Helmet Head and blott the lipstick. I ask out loud for we lost her on a raw Winter day. She would tell me it looks beautiful no matter what.
Opening my closet I choose a black scrub top covered in brightly colored hearts. "In for a penny, in for a pound," I tell myself as I choose heart earrings and a heart necklace though it is March. I ask my daughter if she has any socks left over from February 14th and she finds a bright pink pair with pictures of candy conversation hearts on them.
Feeling marginally better I kiss her and my husband good-bye and head to my car where I listen to "Sweet Home Alabama" at maximum volume on my CD player. A little Lynyrd goes a long way towards curing discouragement.
There are no labor patients tonight. I am asked to care for a surgical patient far older than the patients I usually care for. As I pick up the chart and see the name I chuckle to myself. Then I laugh out loud. I open the door. "Ma'am," I say, "I believe I am the nurse for you!" She looks at me and laughs. "I wish I could tell this story," I tell her, " but I'm not allowed to reveal names."
"I do not mind if you tell my name, my dear," she tells me. "Go ahead and say my name."
I believe that God stretches us at times. I had been going through a lot of personal stretching in the previous weeks. So much so, that I feared I would break. But through these times He never fails to reach down with kindnesses; some large and some small and remind me that He watches me carefully and watchfully for I am the apple of His eye.
"Thank you," I tell my patient. "Thank you......Mrs. Valentine."
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My Favorite Web Sites
About Me
- Shan.
- A product of a family with origins in Tennessee, Texas, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, I'm over-qualified to give a Southern viewpoint on lots of things. I spent part of my childhood in Selma, Alabama where I learned to appreciate people of all walks of life. I've been a nurse for 20 years and it's been the wildest ride of my life. I was raised by a Marine from Texas and a Southern Belle from Tennessee. I was taught to get tough, pull myself up by the bootstraps and nevah, nevah, nevah leave the house without my lipstick!
My Favorite Painting
I love this painting of "Children Playing on the Beach" by Mary Cassatt. Did you know that she was an American? Born in Pennsylvania and of French heritage, Mary Cassatt moved to France when she was 30 and was a lifelong friend of Degas who introduced her to Impressionism. I have a large print of this painting on my dining room wall. My mother tried to get me to throw it away because the print was cheap and she thought it was time for something new. But I kept it anyway. The colors are so vivid; especially the pink on the little girl's face and the red bow on her sister's hat. It reminds me how children, my own included, do not care what they are wearing when they catch that first glimpse of the waves and sand upon arrival to the ocean's edge. They will run into the waves and sit on the sand regardless. These little girls are still wearing sturdy shoes and tights. But dig in the sand they must! Also check out the book, The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher.
About My Sister's Best Friend
Welcome to My Sister's Best Friend! As a member of a really really Southern family, I have many interesting characters in my immediate and extended family. They practically beg for their own forum just because of their sheer bravery and utter wackiness. So, hold on. They're far more interesting than many of the fictitional characters you may read about in a Southern Gothic novel! I'll start with my own sister, and, of course, I am my sister's best friend....
Favorite Music
- The Eagles
- The Doors
- The Doobie Brothers
- The Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir
- Sheryl Crow
- Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Kansas
- Johnny Cash
- Coldplay
- Boston
A Few of My Favorite Movies
- Truly, Madly, Deeply
- The Right Stuff
- Saving Private Ryan
- Rebecca (The Alfred Hitchcock Version)
- Rear Window
- Lawrence of Arabia
- Frequency
- Diary of a Mad Black Woman
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