Santa, I KNOW HIM

Listen, I’m about to get sappy.

The Holidays are one of my favorite times of the year. Christmas morning was always a happy time when I was young, and when I was a kid, I didn’t know that it wasn’t happy for everyone. You aren’t supposed to know. Now that I am older, and I see kids who have to stay at the hospital during the holidays, I see another side to this time of year. Families who are having the worst moment of their lives living in the hospital, eating hospital food, waiting for news or missing their child lost too soon.

Some of these families stay with us for a long while and you get to know them. You know their names, their habits, their extended family. You laugh with them and you cry with them. You celebrate successes and you mourn loss. There is one family who we won’t see this year and I am still coping with that because we’ve got to know their daughter and them. They had become a staple to us… to me. I’m sure you are thinking to yourself, well, why did you get attached? To answer your question, sometimes, you can’t help it. Yes, you have to distant yourself enough to be able to do this job or you would falter, get tired or get sad too soon; but there are times when this is impossible. Part of what makes me such a good nurse is because I care.

So this year, every gift I wrapped has extra special love put into it. I’m so blessed in my friends and family, and I am reminded to never take for granted their presence. I saw a friend write on their social media page the other day, “It is better to wrap gifts than unwrap them” and it made me smile. That is just so true because I am given gifts every single day in the people I surround myself with and in the lessons learned from others.

I’ll be at work this year for Christmas. It’s become a tradition for me. My family and friends, we celebrate on another day. Really there is no altruism in it, I get multiple Christmas days by working on the holiday! I’m actually quite selfish! *insert laugh here* But in all seriousness, working the holiday is special and sacred to me. I get to be there for someone, and that is the simplest explanation of my job. Sure, throw some science and math in there, but at it’s more base definition being a nurse is being there for someone when they need it the most.

Happy Holidays all!