Just Do It

This is a day of memories of 10 years ago and other traumatic moments in my life.

The first event that I remember was when John F Kennedy was assassinated. I was an 18yr old student nurse working on a male urology ward (with the bladder daddies as we disrespectfully called them).

In those days there was no TV on the ward and the men sat on their beds quietly listening to their headphones most of the day. Suddenly there was chatter amongst the men and it was obvious that there something of significance on the news. I questioned what was happening and one of the men called me over and told me to sit down on the chair beside the bed. We were not allowed to sit by the bed to talk to the patient in those days, but I did as I was told.

He then explained the news in a very kind and considerate way and we talked about death and dying. I remember this gentleman very clearly, almost 50 years later, as he taught me a great deal about sharing bad news and how words can be of great comfort.

The logo in this blip is on my daughter's tee shirt. We have just Face Timed and caught up the news. 10 years ago on 9/11 she rang home in the evening just to hear our voices as reassurance that we were still there. There are times in life when we should ?just do it? and not put things off until it is too late.