I am busy completing the nine paintings for the upcoming show at the Karpeles Museum on September 11 (Jacksonville, FL). They will include a portrait of Florence before she left for the Crimean War, six “points of inspiration” paintings depicting those life-changing times that formed her character and passion, and two what I call “tower” paintings. The tower paintings include ephemera from the times and bring the viewer through the history of nursing from gentlewoman times to today, noting Dr. Jean Watson as the global leader of “caring science”, the future direction of modern nursing. This journey has been very exciting for me, and I hope as the blog continues to grow we will all enjoy reading about why people have chosen the field of nursing as her or his life’s work. Thank you for joining this blog, and please share this historical narrative opportunity with your friends and colleagues.

Anna, West Haven, CT, United States
Years nursing: 2.5

It’s a strange feeling when people ask me why I became a nurse. When this question was posed in college, many classmeate raised their hands and said there were nurses in their family and so it felt like a good path for them. To this day, I can’t pinpoint the moment, the experience, the real reason for going into nursing. And each time I explore it, I discover new insights.

To a very large extent, I agree when people say it’s a calling. However I do believe our experiences mold us.
I held my father’s hand when he passed away a few weeks before my 14th birthday. I was too young to have participated in his care, to fight for information when provided updates by the MD’s at the hospitals. But at the same time, just old enough to realize that once he was gone, there were all those landmarks in time he would not be present for.
As much as I have denied this to myself in the past, I feel like nursing is my chance to fight for my father. To care for every patient as I would have cared for him if given the chance… if given the time.
For me, it was a profession to go into to really LIVE life. As a nurse I knew I would see the moments in betweeen the moments. A privilage to see the shared glances at a loved one when the other was looking away. Of loved ones gaining perspective of antoher day while in the sterile walls of a hospital room, and swearing to themselves to appreciate the same moments once they return home. To watch people get the chances I missed, and to make those moments of sadness and realization easier for those in pain.
This story is a new one I have discovered while writing just now. And I’m sure there will be more to come.
As I’m still not certain what lead me to arrive here, I believe all roads would have eventually led me to the same place.

First of all, I am not a nurse. However, the inspiration I received from my grandmother, who was a nurse, and my sister, who is a nurse, is not quantifiable. My grandmother went into nursing when it was increments above day labor. At a later date, she retired to nurse her daughter full-time. Jo Ann was never diagnosed, but was an infant in an adult body–never able to walk, or care for herself in any way. My grandmother devoted herself to feeding, changing, turning and nurturing this child who reached her fifties due to that care. My sister was an RN who did traditional nursing, was a cardiac care nurse, and then, due to the incomporable burden of the paperwork and the lack of time with patients, became a home health nurse. The stories she can tell about dealing with people in the backwoods of North Carolina belong in a book I’m encouraging her to let me write. From rescuing boa constrictors to being accosted by a crone with a rifle, her life was one of dedication to her patients and run-ins with the bizzare. I admire her without reservation and commend her to you as a nurse with heart who gave me a wonderful hero to look up to. Her name is Mary and she lives on Oak Island in North Carolina, retired and happy.She was a nurse for 46 years.
Therese
Indian Shores, Fl, USA

Buffy Port Orange, Fl. USA

Nurse 30 plus years

Since childhood I can’t remember anything but wanting to be a nurse more specifically a nursing nun. Well, I accomplished half of that equation, nurse. I started nursing school immediately after high school but only finished one semester. I spent the next six years working in Medical Records. While working, I went to LPN school and began my nursing career. I wanted to work where my sister, a nurse, worked – Childrens Hospital. This is where my love of Neonates developed. To be able to care for very small babies, some weighing about 4 sticks of butter, & many with cardiac or surgical problems was most rewarding. Not only do you care for the baby, you had to emotionally care for the parents, grandparents, aunts & uncles. It was a true family affair.
While a NICU nurse, I continued my education and became an RN. My nursing career has included NICU, SICU & OB-Gyn. I have been so blessed to be a nurse. This has allowed me to make a difference in patients lives now with a career in Biotechnology. Whether giving patient care or working to make lives healthier, it is always about the PATIENT.

My journey to nursing was almost by default. I was a business major in college and even though I was doing well, I was bored. I couldn’t imagine doing that work for the rest of my life. Through college counseling and advisement, I was pointed to the fields of science and psychology. My goal was to use my life to help others somehow and nursing seemed like the way. I was the only person in my entry level nursing course who couldn’t read a thermometer (long before digital) and had to have remedial bedmaking! But with each course I took, it became clear to me that I had received Nightingale’s call and just didn’t realize it. Everything I’ve done in my 30 year+ career, both in and outside of nursing, has continued to reinforce this was the right decision. I’ve been present at birth and death and many sacred moments in between. I’ve laughed, cried and celebrated with patients and their families and our staff. I’ve counseled patients and been counseled by them. When I was a child, I saw myself being a missionary in some far off land. I’ve come to realize that I’ve been living my mission–to care for others–patients, families and other nurses and staff. It’s a rare privilege to be a nurse and one that I’m thankful to have found.