Big love to nurses and medical assistants!

I realize this is my third blog this week and you guys are probably sick of me by now, but right now I feel compelled to send some big love to nurses and medical assistants who help people in need.

Wednesday afternoon, I went with Suzana to Mt. Zion and met this very cool medical assistant who was wearing some bright purple shoes, which he shared with us he bought for 20 bucks nearly 5 years ago, and they are still hanging in there. And I left that place hoping that when Amelia gets to be a young adult, she will meet someone like that medical assistant - the kind of person who wears bright purple shoes in solemn spaces, and makes the air feel a lot lighter than one would think naturally possible.

Thursday Amelia caught a very bad vomiting bug. Yesterday (Saturday), my mom called to check-in on our week, and she listened patiently to me talk out the tiredness and worry. My mom is a hospice nurse - it is her job to be kind and handle tired people dealing with stressful illness. She reaffirmed that all I had been doing was great, and then asked me about myself, my own week, got me to talk out some of my own thoughts and feelings totally removed from the mom stuff.

This morning I gave Amelia a half a cup of soy milk, worried that it wasn't right, but wanting her to be happy (she really really wanted her soy milk). It didn't stay down and the poor pet was violently ill. So I range the emergency hotline for Amelia's doctor and left a message checking to see if the doc thought we should bring her in.

Then I rang Sharon, my step-mom, a nurse practitioner, pediatrics, who happened to be going up a ski-lift in New Hampshire when her phone rang. She asked me important questions, had me talk through all the details, and gave me very practical advice about being a mom with a sick kid. And part of her advice was to still keep on living, just to make sure to be careful, to keep Amelia comfortable, hydrated, and safe.

Shortly after talking to Sharon, a nurse-on-call rang me back and reaffirmed all that Sharon had said. She shared with me her own experiences as a mom, and made me feel so normal in my own skin. I did all the wise women advised, and Amelia fell fast asleep on the couch.

Just wanted to take a short moment to recognize the importance of caring people all around us - people who spend their lives giving good advice and kind words in a way that is effortless.