Walking with the Light

This morning I awaken with blurred eyes, stumbling feet. With a humming tune, Be Thou my Vision, I walk. I look onward to a flowing crimson dress adorned with a Black-eyed Susan I’d bought for an interview I did not have.

My sight now cleared, I look back upon my written work and see it’s been seven weeks since my last post, how could that be? I felt as though it had been just one week ago. Silently I say, “My, how time travels!” [I laugh to myself maybe that’s why I named my website Time Traveling Nurse.]

I sit down in my chair to reflect back on my recent travels. I pick up my phone to see a glimpse of the most beautiful place I think I’ve ever been. But what a ride it was to get there!

“What happened?” you ask. Somehow, I deviated from the planned route to sign-up for a 13-hour tour. That was a very long day to be sitting on a bus with 22 people. Most memorable of the characters: a three-year-old girl who screamed full throttle every stop, an eight-year-old boy wanting attention, a mother who always asked about wine and made us late, a father unbothered by anything, a grumpy old man, a tour guide trying to manage the herd, and me.

I wish I could say in the moment it was the me who was the Artist, Researcher, and Teacher . . . the self-proclaimed A/R/Tographer (see Paragraph 11, lines 7-8), but it wasn’t. It took some time for me to see things as I now think they really were. It was Dolan (1946) who commented on Florence Nightingale’s thoughts regarding the importance of observation citing, “The most important practical lesson that can be given to nurses is to teach them what to observe – how to observe – what symptoms indicate improvement – what the reverse – which are of importance – which are of the none . . . ” (p. vii). Those were all good points!

I’ll spare you my internal dialogue as I imagine lessons learned from these seven characters might be of value to you too.

I smile and look down at my phone. My vision was now alive with the most radiant colors. I’m no longer in the frumpy clothes I wore that day, but in my crimson dress that fades to white. I am not alone, but next to the most lovely man. There I think, “What a beautiful place.” Then, my mind plays the Wedding Song. He holds my hand with such love and says, “Let’s see what’s In the Garden.”

Abruptly, my daydream ends and I exclaim, “Oh my God! I forgot my wedding anniversary!”

Reflecting on the Evidence

1. Discuss the importance of acute observation.
2. Choose three characters and discuss what learning can be obtained from their actions.

Dedication

To my husband, I may have nearly forgotten our anniversary, but I can never forget a prayer answered!

References

Assad, A. (2016, February 19). Be Thou my Vision [YouTube]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=Optrm7lF16s

Beck, M. (2023). Butchart Gardens [Photograph].

Beck, M. (2023). The blurry crimson dress [Photograph].

Boeckmann, C. (2023, June 22). Black-eyed Susan. Almanac. https://www.almanac.com/plant/black-eyed-susans

Dolan, M. (1946). Preface to the dover edition. In F. Nightingale (1969) Notes on Nursing What it is, and What it is not. Dover Publishing. (Original work published 1860.)

Peter, Paul, and Mary. (2018, October 4). Wedding Song. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xxxsTYHvWa4&pp=ygUMd2VkZGluZyBzb25n

Special Thanks

Annah Schwartz Howell, my loving daughter, reviewer and editor for Walking with the Light.

Zerha Köylü, my Sister-in-Christ and editor for Walking with the Light.