PhD, the big man on the psych unit’s eighth floor, puffed on his pipe while listening to the dialogue of the broken, misfits, psychotics, schizophrenics, and bipolar patients. Many were beaten at birth, both physically and emotionally. In this la…
I was afraid to attend football and basketball games, fearing people’s judgment. I had been conditioned to believe that I was short, fat, ugly, and stupid. I spent most of my time alone in my bedroom with the lights out, listening to music on rep…
Her back was mottled, and she could barely sit up. She was weak from her invasive cancer. I visited her on Easter Sunday. Perhaps it was God’s will that I didn’t have an elaborate Easter dinner with ham, rolls, pies, and house decor filled with d…
As I look at his obituary pictures, I can’t help but feel a sense of longing. I wish I could have known him – that other side of him that his family, friends, and colleagues are sharing in their photos. They’re all smiling and laughin…
I was sitting alone in a rundown trailer in the woods, surrounded by five acres of trees that crowded the blue sky. I had 60 aminophylline pills in my hand, hoping they would end my life. As an asthmatic, I believed that this was the best way to escape…
I now understand. As soon as I clocked out for the last time, I started to breathe again. The race, the rat race, everything is fast-paced and there’s no time to breathe when you’re in it. But now I have time, and I don’t know what to…
I treat myself to the same restaurant for breakfast once or twice a month. There she is again, the same waitress with those same sad eyes. She knows my name, but I don’t know hers. Sometimes she has a bruise on her forehead or bruises up and down…
I finally found time after retirement to clean out my nurse’s book bag. It contained items such as a stethoscope, extra playing cards for patients, highlighters, various pens, a penlight, a notebook with important phone numbers throughout the hea…
As nurses in behavioral health, we were not well-versed in the field. After 33 years in ICU nursing, I left the unit expecting behavioral health to be an easier transition. However, the comparison between the two was like comparing apples to oranges. T…
We lived in the woods. Five acres of trees. You could barely see the sky. We left the big city for this piece of heaven. And by chance, we met a couple that had a 5-year-old daughter. Our son was four years old. They became best friends. They’d s…