When I Was a Child

When I was a child
I didn’t know that I wanted to be a nurse.
I began learning the task of nursing as a teenager - fifty years later I’m still here.

When I was a child
I didn’t know that I wanted to be a teacher.
In my nursing career, I teach every day.

When I was a child
I didn’t know that I wanted to be a wife and a mother.
I was married many years and have two grown sons ~ my pride and my joy.

When I was a child
I didn’t know that I wanted to travel.
I drove, and I flew, back and forth, by car and by plane.

When I was a child 
I didn’t know that I wanted to be a writer.
Boxes of journals are filled with words; digital memory is filled with more and more.

When I was a child
I didn’t know that I wanted to be me.
Today, tomorrow and yesterday I know that I do.

When I was a child
I didn’t know what my swirling young thoughts were telling me.
Today, thoughts still swirl but with intention and meaning.

When I was a child
I didn’t know that time and circumstance would disturb the dust of the moment.
In this moment, the dust is settling ~ my finger can trace my life.

When I was a child
I didn’t know what security meant.
Today I am learning the meaning and feeling of security.

“We always think we know what we want: when in truth 

there is nothing we are less likely to know.”

~ Jude Morgan, Indiscretion