when I grow up I want to be a nurse …

… aside from raising my son alone, getting through nursing school is one of the hardest things I have every had to go through. Emotionally, mentally and physically. However, it is proving to be equally rewarding.

I must be honest; my original motives were hardly altruistic.

The job stability and salary that the nursing profession provides is what originally attracted me to the field. I am watching my mom struggle with unemployment, as well as hundreds of thousands of other Americans. I did not want that for myself. I wanted a profession that was recession proof and one that would provide my son & I with financial stability. Nursing seemed like a logical choice.

Instead, I have found, that nursing has developed in me a servant’s heart. I think humans have an innate need and desire to do good and meaningful works. At the end of my life I want to be able to say, I helped people and provided for their comfort. I did good. My life was not meaningless and self fulfilling.

My patients need me. I do for them what their own family members refuse or can not stomach to do. They think I am there to provide for them, in reality it is they who are helping me.

I can’t explain it. It defies explanation how God works in our lives and molds our hearts. All I can say is I know I am on the right path. My path is to serve.

Joseph Charles Franchre, c 1906