Surrounded on three sides by...

....wooden shelves of clean white linen ironed and neatly folded,

my own crisp starched uniform felt

tight and unforgiving.

The only moisture, 

the tears on my face.

Confronting my fears of the

nakedness of strangers and

enormity of being a nurse,

I faced two more long years

stretching ahead of me 

from 1966 to January 27, 1969.

43 years ago today,

I officially earned the black band 

that would become a part of history.

Tonight the linen closet has 

Jersey sheets rolled up and blue terry cloth facecloths 

stuffed in large laundry bags,

towels and pyjamas folded loosely 

on wire racks of a shiny metal linen cart.

Tonight the linen closet is just another room.

Tonight the stiff uniform and cap are things of the past.

Sickness, pain and yes sometimes even death 

are unwaveringly present.

Tonight I am grateful for having dried my tears and

stepped steadily into a very healing journey.

“Nursing encompasses an art, a humanistic orientation, 
a feeling for the value of the individual, and an intuitive 
sense of ethics, and of the appropriateness of action taken.”

~ Myrtle Aydelotte