Today someone told me something about themselves that was so powerful that it changed everything for me.
Today, I was in class and I was talking to another student (we'll call her H) about how I went into nursing because I never wanted to temp again. She said that Nursing was the best thing that happened to her, since her life was nothing before it.
I told her that i'm sure her life was something before entering a Nursing Program that felt like Legalized torture.
It was then that she turned to me and said that what she went through now was nothing compared to how she got there.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I was homeless." She said.
I asked her what she meant. I naively thought that she was too clean or well spoken to have been in that situation.
She then began to tell me her (abbreviated) story.
When she was 12, her father had left her and her mother for another woman he worked with. The mother had never finished high school after having gotten pregnant and therefore never worked a very lucrative job before. After her father left, she got a job as a waitress in a hotel but they couldn't pay the mortgage and ended up living out of their car. Well, then they ended up in a garage apartment and her mother pushed her to do well in school. She told me that they didn't watch TV or even use that many lights, so they could keep the bills down.
When she was 15, she was coming off the bus when the police got her attention and informed her that her mother had had an overdose of speed. (something she took to work her now three jobs.) She then was forced into foster care where she was repeatedly physically and sexually attacked in a group home. After running away, she ended up squatting in abandoned buildings and panhandling or stealing for any bit of money or food she could manage for the next two years.
When she was 17, she told me that she was so hungry that she waited in an alley known for prostitutes and decided to try it. On her first time being approached by a man, he ended up being a police officer and brought her in.
She was represented by a public defender and with her personal history being reviewed, she was charged with public indecency and panhandling and was sentenced to probation. It was then that Social services got involved and she was sent to a woman that "specialized" in troubled women.
It was then that she turned it around. The woman that took her in was in her words "God herself", after some troubles adjusting, the woman got her into an adult education program, got her to get her GED and gave her a safe place to live. It was then that she started at the very bottom at a local community college and clawed her way into the Nursing program.
She is one of the most well spoken, intelligent women I have ever had the privilege to meet and when things get too hard, or the day gets too dark, I'll think of her courage and I'll smile.
That's a wonderful story. I work with vets and I'm always amazed when I learn about their service history. Usually, the patient doesn't tell me but a family member tells me . . . many have multiple Purple Hearts or a Silver Star. I read the obituary of one my patients . . . an ace fighter pilot from WW2, but you'd never guess from talking with him. What did my Mom say? "You can't judge a book by its cover!"
Specializes in LTC, CPR instructor, First aid instructor..
Wow! That is an awesome story. I'm so glad everything turned out well for your nurse friend. God certainlly gave her a wonderful blessing, and He blessed you as well by connecting you with her.
very inspiring...amazing how one person can withstand almost everything just to even "survive"...making me look at things i have taken for granted everyday..thanks for this kind of stories that made me think twice of things taken for granted..
sunnycalifRN
902 Posts
That's a wonderful story. I work with vets and I'm always amazed when I learn about their service history. Usually, the patient doesn't tell me but a family member tells me . . . many have multiple Purple Hearts or a Silver Star. I read the obituary of one my patients . . . an ace fighter pilot from WW2, but you'd never guess from talking with him. What did my Mom say? "You can't judge a book by its cover!"