National Nurse's Day!

May 6-12 is Nurse's Week. A whole week! I feel like there should be fun activities every day, or some sort of subdivisions to the week. And a carnival! For instance:

May 6: ICU and ER Nurse's Day, celebrate by riding the Cardiac Monitor Roller Coaster!
May 7: Pediatric and Geriatric Nurse's Day, celebrate by eating soft foods!
May 8: Outpatient Nurse's Day, celebrate by running the 10k Foot Race/Obstacle Course!
May 9: Surgical Nurse's Day, celebrate in the Nursing House of Horrors Fun House!
May 10: Inpatient Nurse's Day: celebrate with exciting competitions like "Who Can Juggle the Most?!" and "Speed IV Placement!"
May 11: School Nurse's Day, celebrate by going to the park with a gaggle of kids!
May 12: Labor and Delivery Nurse's Day, celebrate by playing Midway games like "Catch the Baby" and "How Big is This Hole?"

In honor of Nurse's Week, and Nurse's Day, I would like to thank all the wonderful nurses that have touched my life.

First and foremost, of course, is the nurse that brought me into this world. The first, and always most important nurse I have ever known. I am, of course, referring to the Labor and Delivery Nurse present at my birth.

Haha! Of course not. Though I'm sure that nurse (whoever she or he may have been) played an important role - making sure I was breathing, not dropping me on my head and all that jazz - the most important nurse (and the best!) in my life is my mom!

Here she is, at what I believe is the beginning of nursing school. She is with her friend, and my godmother, Jean. Don't they look all young and cute in their uniforms?

And here she is at graduation.

I loved going to work with her and seeing all the medical-y stuff when I was growing up. While I wasn't smart enough to follow her lead to become a nurse, I did follow her steps into the medical field. And thus, nurses have continued to play a large, and very welcome role in my life.

From the nurses in medical school, who tolerated my presence with a minimum of annoyance and only occasional (light-hearted) threatening...

To the nurses on Davis 7, who were an absolutely integral part of my education...

To the nurses in the PICU and NICU without whom many a resident (including me) could have royally screwed up a child's life...

To the clinic nurses, who have to be the bad guys and give all those shots that we insist the kids get...

To the ER nurses, both at Davis and Memorial, who are often first in the room and have to let us know who is sick, and who is less so, all while tackling 20 other tasks...

To the Memorial L&D and post-partum nurses, who I think have one of the most reliably difficult patient groups and family situations possible...

To the Memorial ICN nurses, whose presence at difficult deliveries always makes me breathe a little easier...

To the Memorial Peds Nurses, who I could not function without...

And to my friends who are nurses, who I know are the best kind of nurses there are.

I don't know if I am just lucky, but I have had a life filled with so many amazing, intelligent and compassionate nurses. I suspect it has more to do with the field of nursing in general and less to do with my own luck!

So, thank you to all of you!

I'll keep working on the Carnival idea, because I think just having a week in which we are supposed to celebrate you isn't quite enough.

May the Fourth Be With You

It may not be an official holiday (except for those who practice Jediism), but today is Star Wars Day!

While I always appreciated the Star Wars movies, they have held a special place in my heart since about 7 pm on June 26, 2007. Give or take an hour. That was when the Man Who Would Become My Husband became very solemn and told me he had a secret. As I leaned in closer, I feared what dark skeletons may lie in his closet; I listened with 'bated breath and I will never forget the words he spoke. He leaned forward, crinkled his brow and declared, "I really like Star Wars." I, equally somber, replied: "I really like Harry Potter" (this was, of course, mere weeks before Book 7 was released) And thus, a relationship was born.

I will say, for a man who brought up Star Wars within hours of meeting him, Marc really isn't crazy about Star Wars. And by crazy, I of course mean this man:


He does watch the movies frequently, but usually at bed time, and even then it is interspersed with Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or whatever movie I choose to put in. He does, however, appreciate a good Star Wars product, which makes him super easy to buy for. Star Wars mug? Check. Star Wars wall art? Check. Star Wars toy light saber? Check.


I appreciate the good Star Wars product myself (though I'm still more drawn toward HP paraphernalia).

Like this:
I want it! Check out the light saber scissors on the cover. Awe. Some.

To further celebrate Star Wars Day, I will leave you with some pictures of amazing, and not at all over-the-top craft/art projects that I would willingly have in my life:
Death Star Watermelon!

Carbonite-bound Han Solo? Cool.

Already got the pattern printed out, and plenty of yarn waiting to be Ewok-ified.

Only the smartest babies travel by AT-AT.

It's cross stitch, but I'm sure it could be altered into a knitting pattern.

Happy Star Wars Day to everyone! (and let me know when Harry Potter day is!)

...my ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere, yes... -Yoda

National Teacher Day!

I have decided that I will celebrate a different holiday every day this month. Because of my procrastinatory skills, I already missed May Day and Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But I certainly didn't want to miss National Teacher Day!



I may not be in the majority here, but I loved school. (May explain why I went through the 20th grade - 23rd if you count residency) Certainly a large chunk of that was my friends, but the experience of learning new things, and the feeling of accomplishment I'd get from doing my work well... that was great! If I hadn't had the right teachers at the right times, though, I'm sure it would have been different. There are certain teachers that are indelibly part of me - I think of them, and decide to try just a little harder, or to listen more, or to look at something from another perspective.

Once upon a time, I thought I could be a teacher. Then I took a summer job teaching an arts and crafts class. Arts and crafts - easy-peasy, right? Not so much. I got just a hint of what I would have been like as a teacher, and it turns out, I'm not very good!

I have some friends that have become excellent teachers, though - the kind of teacher I would have loved as a student.

So, yay teachers! Here's a day to celebrate you. Not enough for all that you do for your students, the future, and humanity as a whole, but thank you all very much.

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn