A Toll On My Soul...

 I am very passionate about my work. Saving lives is what I was put on this earth to do. It is MY PURPOSE. But dealing w/ life and death everyday can be tough on the soul, but I wouldn't change a thing. My mom is a nurse as well. I come to her for advice and reassurance when my career takes a tole on my soul. The following is an email I got from my mom after the first in a small collection of the toughest nights in my career thus far. I was faced w/ death's reality head-on for the first time in my career. It was an angle on life and death that I had never experienced before. It was truely a life altering event for me professionally and otherwise. And now nursing is a fixture in my life and who I am. And I do it well!


And now in the words of "The Original" GR-8 1, The illustrious  Ellen Pyrek aka MOM
Remember death is yet another of life's transitions.  When all else fails; if you can help to make that transition more peaceful and less painful and support those left behind; as a nurse you have succeeded.  The decision of when it is another's time to go is not, after all, up to us!!! The patients and families I have cared for are not simply faces from the past. There is a place in my heart where I remember each and every one, and I have a unique legacy from each of them that spurs me onward. I am a better nurse because of them. I am a better person because of them...!" 
So after a tremendously sad holiday weekend or any other time I need to be reminded of the reason why I do what I do, I come back to this e-mail. And it brings me back to amazing opportunity I was blessed with to touch people's lives. I have found peace in the fact that no matter what the outcome I play a pivotal role in the game we call LIFE.

 Thanks Mom...