You Might Be An ER Nurse....

IF:

You have ever carried a severed finger around your place of business chuckling diabolically as you show it to all of your co workers.

You have ever had a picture of gnarly wounds or things stuck in/on non traditional places on your iphone.

You have ever pretended to drink out of a (full) urinal.

You have ever wished out loud for a cardiac arrest patient to come in because "you're bored".

You have ever thought it was a perfectly reasonable thing to do to agree to come in to work at 3am. And then proceed to work until 7 pm.  And do it multiple times.

You have ever given report to another nurse via charades.

You have dated and/or are married to law enforcement or an EMT/paramedic

 You have ever said the words, "Hey, no, you can't pee there!"

Or the words, "Oh, let's get that gown back on, shall we?"

You've given and/or taken report on a patient over the phone while taking a quick pee break.

You've ever chased a semi naked patient down the street.

Saying 'wow that was really awful' about a trauma case also has the unspoken meaning of, 'but kind of awesome'.

You love/hate/relish/detest your job every day all in one day.

Through The Kaleidoscope



It's always been interesting to me how different people, surroundings, and situations bring out different sides of people.  It's the same person with the same personality, but twist the circumstances and social setting a little bit, and they can look very different. Like a kaleidoscope. The same elements making different pictures.

Of course I see that the best with myself, because I'm with myself in all my different settings and situations.  There have been times when parts of my personality surface that surprise people, because they've only seen a certain side of me and understandingly surmised that must be the grand total.   I've been the quiet, awkward girl and the outgoing socialite. I've been the one with nothing to say and the one with too much to say.  I've been the clown and the stoic.  I've been insecure and I've been confident. I'm different at work than I am at home, different with old friends than with new.

You may not know this, but one of the worst things you can comment to a quiet person is about how quiet they are.  Because what they hear is not 'you're so quiet!', but 'you lack social skills and are probably quite dull'.   Most 'quiet' people I've known are actually highly entertaining when they are in a setting and with people that they are comfortable with. And they are often very interesting. You just have to twist the kaleidoscope .

All that to say, humans are fascinating. Never assume that you've got someone pegged, because we all develop a variety of new shades as the light shifts.

The Story and the Struggle

What if your life were a book? Would you want to read it?  That was a partial premise of a book I recently finished. It proposed that the things that make stories meaningful are the same sorts of things that make lives meaningful, and if those elements are lacking in your life, you should rethink some of your scenes.  It also talked about how in movies and stories you have conflict and resolution and you have a character who by the end of the story has either revealed who they really are or have been transformed by the conflict into someone new.  The author states that these things resonate with us because that is true of life. 

In life we have conflict and are longing for resolution.  And throughout our lives we are either being revealed for what we really are, or are being transformed by our conflicts, for good or bad.   The book made me re think in some ways the way I view struggle.  None of us like to struggle.  We like comfort. We like things to be easy.  But what if living a comfortable, easy life implies that you never do anything that really matters? Is that a worthwhile trade off?

While as humans we hate struggle, in some ways we also relish it.  That's why we have athletes.  I doubt any athlete "enjoys" the pain of training.  But you bet they enjoy the victories that training brings.  Climbing mountains is painful, but the struggle makes the view that much more beautiful.  It seems in many ways enduring pain can often magnifiy beauty and wonder when we come out on the other side of it.  Someone who hikes up a mountain certainly experiences the view in a different way then the one who drove.

Often suffering seems meaningless and we wonder why God allows it.  And although I believe the answer to that is involved, I wonder if one of the reasons is because God knows that when we finally come out on the other side, when we leave this life behind us, that the splendor of heaven will be a million times what it would have been because we reached it through suffering.  And maybe some of the people who suffer the most in this life will be the ones who will enjoy the next the most? And who can cross the finish line with pride who didn't fight to finish the race?

Of course, if this life is all there is then that is a false hope.  But I don't believe it is.  The eternity in my heart whispers that we are part of a greater Story.  And I believe that all of our struggle in this present time will someday make all of this the greatest story ever told.