YEARS of NURSING...

I was going through some old drawers and boxes today....and found this stack of date books.

They basically represents my career as an RN. I think I am only missing one year...and that is because it was on an *actual* BIG calendar, as opposed to a diary-book calendar. Count them. 19. Most are 2 year calendars and some are one year calendars.

I can thumb through them and see where I was on whatever day for the last 30 years. Amazing isn't it?

That all those years boil down to 19 books. Oh. And that doesn't include this years book. That is 5 decades! =^@

What it doesn't show is all those years of caring for people...hours spent worrying about their well being - miles of running up and down hallways, countless medications given out, numerous IV's hung, over 6,000 babies delivered, a billion MD orders - well - everything an RN does in a day. Or a night.

Some years were better than others. Some were washes. But I can say, I did learn a lot and did a lot in all those years. Geriatrics, Rehab, Medical, Surgical, Store Nurse, L&D, Gyne, Nursery, Psychiatry, Telemetry, Camp RN, Travel Nursing, Prison Nursing, Triage RN,Float RN, Board of director for Non-profit Seniors Assisted Living... all that packed into 19 little date books. Or 30 some odd years- whichever way you want to look at it.

I don't know why I keep them. Maybe because they are like a diary of what the biggest part of my life was....or is. I probably spent more Christmases and more holidays and more birthdays and more special times with colleagues and patients than with my own family. There are little notes here and there of things I did....travelling backpacking in Europe. Twice. A dozen or so odd trips to Hawaii. More than that to Mexico. More moves than I can count - approximately Seventeen? - within 2 different countries, with 7 homes purchased and 7 Canadian and 5 American hospitals worked in.

I Lost count long ago - of the boyfriends I dated and the friends I left behind and the roommates that moved on. But even though they are a record of the past....it's the present that means more to me.

So - was it all worth it? I think so. Although I had my misgivings many times over the years, what I chose as a career (although I didn't really ever consider it a career since it was supposed to only be temporary) made me who I am today - and I quite like where I am at the moment.

But given the opportunity to leave it for good - would I? You bet. But, for now, it is difficult to let go of what has been a major part of one's life.

And so I hang on to that dusty little pile of elastic-bound date books. And every once in a while.....I flip through them and smile........