Thank You Sister Sheila

Nursing has served me well! For all it's ...trials & tribulations, schedules that look like a strip of Atrial Fib, exhausting documentation, impossible personalities , untold pathogens and fluids, mornings when I can still feel my pulse in my feet from yesterdays shift, yes nursing...has served me well. It has provide life experiences and rewards that most people will never have.

When I realized I was entering my 30th yr of nursing in 2006 I decided to track down Sr Sheila and thank her. In the fall of 1973 Sr Sheila called each gal into her office to ask our plans for college. I had to tell her that I didn't know what I was going to do. You see, my father had just recently been hit by a "down-sizing" in his corporate world and was let go. There would be no money for college.

Sr Sheila didn't miss a beat. She picked up my transcripts and said "Your very good in sciences. Why don't you get a diploma in nursing, go to work and then decide what you want to do." And that started the ball rolling. In 1976 a diploma in nursing cost $2400 dollars and 2 yrs study with no time off. I did it and over the next 12 yrs had my children, went through some life changes, and finished my degree. Regardless of changing economic climates I never once worried about finding a job.

I tried to find Sr Sheila using a classmate web networking site without success. I called High School acquaintances, without success. I tried contacting the order of Nuns she belonged to, again without success. I tried a few more ideas and then gave up. I said "OK God, I tried. If you want me to do this then give me the way"

A year later I happened to be at work one day when a favorite ER volunteer was sharing how she had helped each of her four adopted children find their birth mothers using the web. Bingo? I explained to her my quest. She requested the name of my high school, the year I graduated and how old I thought Sr Sheila was in 1973. One week later she walked in and handed me...Sr Sheila's phone number!

I couldn't wait to make the call. When she answered I explained "I don't expect you to remember me but you were my high school guidance counselor in 1973. I continued my story and finished by saying... You steered me onto a path that gave me a sense of purpose, supported me and kept me challenged for 30 years. I want to say thank you. You made a huge difference in my life". Her voice cracked, she said "You will never know how much I needed this call today! "

You see, God didn't give me her phone number when I wanted it, he gave it to me when she needed my call. I love how that works.