thatnursewrites

What’s your favorite recipe?

Have you had a bad day? Have some soup. Are you sick? Have some soup. Oh it’s freezing out, great I’ll make soup. My favorite recipe is my Granny Mary’s chicken soup. I watched her make it many times throughout my childhood and it’s the only thing I cook that tastes just like hers. I know she’s smiling down on me from heaven when I make a batch. It’s a simple recipe but so delicious, so hearty, so soothing, so healing.

Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.

Why would they close a Barnes and Noble for renovations on Labor Day weekend, just three months before Christmas? That was my situation last year. My beloved Barnes and Noble that resided in this really cool shopping center for 25 years in suburbia was set to be temporarily closed for renovations. At first, the reopening was projected to be March of this year. Every month I would try to peak through the windows to check the progress. Finally the reopening was announced for July 26, 2023. I found myself giddy with a feeling of excitement similar to that of a child looking forward to a visit from Santa. Silly as that sounds.

Ironically I was working a 12 hour shift the day of the reopening and didn’t make it there until the next day. The positive vibes of the staff, the new look, smell of fresh paint, wood and rows upon rows of books that I could be reading was well worth the wait.

What are your top ten favorite movies?

This is a fun prompt.

1. Animal House. It was the first Rated R movie I was allowed to watch as a young child. Send my parents to the hall of shame.

2. The Godfather I & II. Leave the gun, take the canolis.

3. Moonstruck

4. 9 to 5

5. Sixteen Candles

6. A Christmas Story

7. National Lampoons Vacation

8. Mystic Pizza. This was the first movie my husband and I saw together in 1988 a few months before we started dating.

9. Top Gun and Top Gun Maverick

10. American Pie II

11. Kramer vs Kramer

What profession do you admire most and why?

11. “The funny thing about firemen is, night and day, they are always firemen.”

– Gregory Widen.

I believe we can find value in all professions, especially public service. The profession I particularly admire is firefighters. As a former ER nurse, I’ve had the privilege of knowing many of them. They are a family and community within themselves with generations of families serving in the fire department. They are a special breed of human beings; humble and brave. They risk their lives to save ours. Every.Single.Day. They are heroes. Thank you to all firefighters.

What is the most important thing to carry with you all the time?

What I carry with me is something my maternal grandmother taught me when I was twenty. To be the better person. Always. When someone wrongs you, don’t stoop to their level by retaliating. Rise above their nonsense and move on. At first I couldn’t wrap my head around letting someone get away with something until I discovered the significance of Karma. Karma always finds a wrongdoer.

What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

I was an Emergency Room RN for 13 years. I would see new graduate nurses from prestigious schools come into work thinking they could change the inner city population we treated. When they realized they couldn’t, they’d quit. What I learned from that was that I can save a person’s life but I can’t save their soul. I can’t change their lives but I can make a difference in someone else’s day with my nursing care and my writing. So that’s my hope for this blog.

I created this blog eight years ago but I feel like it’s still a work in progress. It was supposed to be about my life as a nurse. Over time it felt like this blog lost its identity because I felt discouraged. I felt discouraged because I want some formal training in writing without having to return to school for another Bachelor’s degree. So the blog sat unattended for two years. This summer I started answering these prompts and writing felt good again. If you read my 30 Things post you’ll see in #11 that I like water vacations because they help me to relax, regroup and reset. This year’s vacation ended with my decision to pursue freelance writing on the side. I’ve also been able to find some writing courses. I don’t know where my writing is going to take me but I’m excited to find out.

On a side note, now more than ever I know that life is too short to not pursue a dream. Two days ago, one of my first cousins died suddenly at the age of 47. My cousin is the first of my first cousins to die. He was so full of life and a funny, smart, kind and loving man. He was a sports fanatic and a diehard Georgia Bulldogs fan. I know that he would allow me to share that he has a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. His accomplishments are an inspiration to me. Rest easy JDG 💔 Go DAWGS.

Scour the news for an entirely uninteresting story. Consider how it connects to your life. Write about that.

When I first saw this prompt this morning I thought I could find a good article, pick it apart and share my thoughts. Wrong. It made me feel like I was on a desperate search for something to write about. I scoured several articles and realized that looking for an article that I wasn’t interested is a colossal waste of my time. There were more articles I was interested in and less that I wasn’t. Usually when I look at a news article to determine if I’m interested in reading it, I look at the title and read the first few paragraphs. If I’m not interested after the first few paragraphs I will move along. Why waste time reading something you aren’t interested in?

List 30 things that make you happy.

These are not in order of priority.

1. When people read my blog. Thank you for giving me your time.

2. Writing. I was away from this blog for a long time. I was gone because I felt discouraged because I couldn’t find my voice. After jet pack took over, I discovered these prompts. These prompts are helpful and writng again has given me clarity about my next steps.

3. Connecting with my patients and bringing them out of their pre-op anxiety.

4. My IV skills. In the medical world it’s a skill that gets better over time. After 29 years in this business I’m going to sound like Ron Burgundy here. My IV skills are “kind of a big deal.”

5. Family dinners. This is a place where families reconnect after the day is over. I grew up eating dinner every night with my parents and my brother. No one eats until everyone is seated. I have continued that in my home with my husband and our children.

6. Cleaning, decluttering and reorganizing my house.

7. Showering after work. I don’t truly feel relaxed until I do.

8. Reading. I love to read because it takes my mind to a different place.

9. Visiting a bookstore. The possibilities of what I could read are endless.

10. My dog. I adore him.

11. Going on vacation near a body of water. Relax. Regroup. Reset.

12. Listening to music. If you are feeling down play your favorite song to change your vibration.

13. Making people laugh. Hearing laughter. When someone makes me laugh. It’s good medicine.

14. Driving a stick shift. I learned many moons ago when I got my drivers license and I still own one. I like the sensation of establishing clutch control on an incline.

15. My Jeep Wrangler. This car is now the third Jeep vehicle I’ve owned. Nurses don’t get snow days.

16. Witnessing random acts of kindness. It’s reassuring to see people do good things.

17. Sunrises and sunsets. Everyday we get to see two new pictures in the sky.

18. The four seasons. The rebirth of spring. Sunshine and warm summer days. Falling leaves and shorter days of autumn. The stillness of winter.

19. Morning coffee. That first sip of hot coffee reassures me that I will indeed come back to life at this early hour.

20. Attending college basketball games and watching them on tv. My son was in his university’s marching band for two years and basketball pep band for four. We started attending the basketball games to see him play his trombone and I discovered that I enjoyed watching basketball.

21. One on one time with each of my kids.

22. Cooking for people. For Italians cooking a meal for someone is an act of love.

23. Being at home when it’s pouring down rain.

24. My friends and family. Life is too short so enjoy being with these people while you can.

25. Exercise. It’s a must for physical and emotional health.

26. Having a “me” day.

27. Ice cream. I have a sweet tooth. My hospital used to have ice cream socials a few times a year. People would leave the ice cream room skipping.

28. Finding new random fun experience types of entertainment with my husband. In recent years we’ve discovered cooking classes, a botanical garden and different concerts.

29. Spirituality and Religion.

30. A good night’s sleep. Without it, I feel hopeless.

Describe one habit that brings you joy.

I have made a daily habit out of texting my kids good morning, telling them to be careful driving and wishing them a nice day. I started doing this when my son was a freshman in college and living in the dorm. Initially my texts were to say good morning so when he answered me I knew he was awake for his first morning class. I continued that throughout his college and graduate school years and for my daughter as well. These morning greetings are my way of making sure that each of my children are in a good headspace to start their day. Sometimes it’s an inspirational quote or a Bible verse or a good luck on your big thing for the day. My kids are both in their early and mid twenties. My son already has a masters degree and is a year away from applying to medical school. My daughter is entering her final year of undergrad and is a year away from becoming an elementary school teacher. At this stage of their lives I’m less about helicoptering them and more about equipping them with the tools they need to survive in this crazy world. It’s not the text messages that bring me joy, it’s their happiness and watching them become the people God created them to be. I think I’ll be doing these morning greetings for the rest of my life.

What are you curious about?

Picture this: Super Bowl XXV January 27, 1991, Buffalo Bills vs NY Giant. My parents are hosting a Super Bowl party to cheer on our home team the Buffalo Bills. It’s the end of the game and we are standing around my parents television, holding hands and praying that Scott Norwood kicks the winning field goal. The kick is wide right and the Bills lost. Moments later the Super Bowl champion NY Giants are seen wearing their Superbowl champion tee-shirts. Did you ever wonder what the NFL does with the losing team’s Super Bowl champion tee-shirts? I mean obviously they have to haul ass and get them out of the locker room before the losers walk in. A few years ago at a social gathering, my husband and I had a conversation about what happens to the losers tee-shirts. Someone suggested they were shipped to a third world country. So, someone in a third world country believes the Buffalo Bills have won four straight Super Bowls? I have so many curiousities meandering through my brain on a daily basis but this one haunts me. Will the Buffalo Bills EVER win a Super Bowl?? I bet you didn’t know that the writer, “that nurse” of this blog thatnursewrites is a member of #BillsMafia. I bleed red and blue. I was born and raised in Buffalo. I do not live there anymore but my brother and my parents do. Every year I “Billieve” and at the end of the season when the Bills are knocked out of the playoffs, after my obscenities from the loss are no longer lingering in the atmosphere over my house, I put my big girl panties on and get on with my life.