You Will Be Missed

A wonderful woman has passed from this earth to her heavenly home. Some people will say she earned her angel wings today.  I'm lucky enough to know that she was one of gods angels on earth for quite a long time.  

Many people who read this won't have had the chance to meet her.  I probably didn't talk much about her but she had a huge hand in shaping who I am today.  Her name is Jill and she was my primary preceptor when I started my very first nursing job.  I was young, naive and inexperienced.  All things she was not.   She took me under her wing and taught me everything she knew willingly, with passion, patience, importance.   I had a front row seat and watched her care for sick children so incrediblely lovingly.   She was equally amazing with families.  

As a new nurse I watched in awe as she stood her ground with doctors and fought hard for what she knew her patients needed.  Long before the word "patient advocate" was common Jill was exuding it.  

Jill had a laugh that was, in a word, intoxicating.  She could tell stories that would have you laughing until you cried. She was serious when she needed to be, feisty if you crossed her, but always looking out for those around her.   She was a lover of vanilla coke and Dale Ernhart and most of all her family and friends.   As a newlywed and new mother I asked her advice a million times and she probably reassured me a million more.  She taught me about life and death and the living that was to be done in between.  She was there when I was angry and frustrated with the healthcare system, when I lost my first patient and many times when I thought my heart wouldn't stand one more child diagnosed with a terminal illness.  We spend weekends and holidays together at he bedside of kids willing them to live.  We spent late nights where prayed that some would know the end to their suffering.  You don't go through something like that with someone and not have an amazing bond. 

Jill's life  was cut short but there are thousands of children and hundreds of nurses out there who's lives go on because of her compassion, her skill and her dedication.    I am so proud to be able to say she was MY preceptor and that I worked with her.  She will be greatly missed but forever remembered. 

If I could talk to her one more time I eokld thank her for the influence she had on my life.  I would tell her how amazing I always thought she was.  I would thank her for teaching me so much of what I know.  I would tell her that I will try to be a positive influence on other young nurses. I would tell her about my kids because man did she love kids   I would tell her I'll see her again someday.