2020: The Year of Perspective

2020- the year of perspective: the first thing most people say about 2020 is how awful it was. Did it have its challenges, sure! I was taught to adapt and overcome in my life and it’s all about how you look at situations and how you react to them. Having faith in this pandemic has pulled our little family through. At the beginning of 2020, I was powering through my nursing program which meant me and my family were exhausted and torn between two homes and two cities, always traveling and my extended family was watching my kiddos more then I was able to spend with them. I was worn out and praying for relief while trying to see the finish line. My estranged dad had just revealed his stage four lung cancer diagnosis. I was constantly in conference with his docs and specialist in between lunch hours and breaks at school. I was torn in too many directions to count. Then, almost overnight in March- COVID-19 made its debut and shut down all in person learning and any physical contact in the world. With that, my in person nursing program turned virtual- I was able to be home full time. I was able to stop all traveling for school purposes, keep my family home, spent more time with my kiddos and was present for them again, give my extended family some much needed babysitting relief, bring my dad to my home to live and care for him in his last days and be present for doctors appointments. When dad passed in April, I was grateful to be supported by Jim Kommers, Aviant hospice and my family. Within this time, my family grew closer and we became stronger in our faith and made some good lifestyle changes. Sure- church, doctors appointments, birthdays, graduations and family gatherings looked very different through FaceTime or Zoom but how awesome is it that we have those technologies to keep present with one another. Vacation became a word we used in the future tense. We made home a place we enjoyed to be- not just somewhere we met at night and slept. In June, I contracted bilateral pneumonia r/t COVID-19, through the grace of God and good medicine, I was able to fight my month long fight at home in quarantine. Since I was home, I kept up with my excellerated nursing program and I graduated on time in August. Our pinning ceremony was a drive thru style,  but I’m grateful there was one- such an important rite of passage and I love looking at my lamp and pin in my shadow box on the wall. Graduation was on YouTube, but it felt awesome to get to recognition of so many early mornings, all nighters, blood, sweat and tears paid off. Shortly before the pandemic, I was able to do my last semester of clinicals with my department at work until I got sick. With that, I was offered an amazing opportunity to stay on as a new graduate nurse in my department once I passed my state board examination. Once I hurdled that, I started my job in December. I was blessed to have a job during a time when so many lost theirs. Being a front line worker has had its host of challenges from being mentally, physically exhausted with the shortage of staff, supplies and patient beds to being the one to witness the sadness, fear and loneliness to my patients who can’t have their loved ones there to help them heal or go on their journey to walk with Jesus when their bodies just can’t be as strong as they once were. It is a humbling experience. Being a COVID-19 nurse has been one of the most rewarding things I have experienced in my lifetime. I’ve sat with and took time listening while offering encouragement and hope, held hands and prayed with my patients (and families during last moments), gave hugs while in full respirator, gown, goggles, shield. In all this, I am blessed. I make a difference in lives. I work with a team that works their tooshies off and would have my back in a hot second. My other half who understands and works battling in the same environment. In a busy world with iso much going on, this pandemic brought my family closer together, at work and at home. God bless us and the experiences that have made us stronger in 2020 and to the hope that resides in 2021. Happy New Year, y’all.