[I] am not entirely certain how I chose my major; maybe it chose me. Some have said nursing is a calling. I’m not sure I would go so far as to say I was called. I do feel an affinity for connecting with people in crisis, and all hospitalized patients and their families are in crisis. Since 1983, I have worked as an LVN, primarily in behavioral health and long-term care.
There have been obstacles in my path. Three obstacles I love very much are adults now. My children, of course, always came first when they were young. I took the bulk of pre-nursing requirements when I could, literally here and there. I also continued to work and juggle the demands of being a wife, mother, daughter-in-law, vet, baker, and chauffeur with those of being a student. Finally in 2010, after twenty-plus years and ever changing requirements, I was ready to apply to nursing school in earnest. My two oldest children were launched, and my youngest was in high school. Four years on the waiting list, and I was in, accepted at Monterey Peninsula College Maurine Church Coburn School of Nursing!
On the Monday after Thanksgiving 2013, my husband turned to me and said he was leaving. He removed his grandmother’s photograph from the wall and left. A few hours later a process server was knocking at my door. That was the end of my marriage. The biggest obstacle this created was that of pain.
I have to say I am still in a great deal of pain. I did not fully realize how painful a divorce could be. I had been divorced before, but there were no children involved, and no house to sell quickly at a loss. I think that leaving my home of 14 years was the biggest challenge because of the landscaping I had nurtured and the neighbors I now miss. I haven’t entirely processed this loss yet; I’m still working on the death of my parents, who died within seven months of each other (in Aug 2012 and Mar 2013).
How do I move forward now? I’m not young, and I haven’t thought of myself as flexible or nomadic in a good while. I have had to become both. I must. It’s that simple. I will prepare for the worst and hope for the best, out of necessity rather than choice. I look around and see other people with problems more profound than mine. As a nurse, I can do something about that. I can give people hope. I will give people hope. I may pursue a career in behavioral health, or simply just work on a medical-surgical floor as an RN, where the need is great. After all, I am now flexible, dedicated, and familiar with personal crises in a way I was not before my divorce. So at sixty years of age, I will begin a new career. I hope to do well.
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