If I tell someone I am in nursing school, 9.75 times out of 10, they will say, “Oh, that’s wonderful. Good luck to you,” and the conversation ends there.
9.75 times out of 10 that my lovely partner says that he is in medical school, the reply is, “Oh, What kind of doctor are you going to be?”
For every branch of medicine, there is an equivalent branch (usually multiple branches) of nursing.
Come on! Ask me what kind of nurse I want to be.
Recently, for the first time, I told someone I was going to be a nurse. Up until that point, when someone asked me what I am doing, I usually said, “I am getting my Master’s in midwifery.” Because that was what I thought I was doing. I never intended to be a nurse. Never.
I’ve had to come to terms with reality. I like nursing. It’s been a huge surprise, but I think I will be a nurse for awhile. All of my enduring adolescent goals of helping people and being an activist . . . nursing is the perfect avenue for all of that. Plus, I am very nosy and nursing is a nosy sort of job; You get to be witness to life’s drama instead of watching it on TV.
I want to work and make some money and stop being a perpetual student, at least for one year. I want to know what it is like to pay my rent on a salary instead of student loans. I want to buy my lovely partner and myself a nice King size bed. I want to live in an apartment large enough to accomodate two people, two guinea pigs and a [future] dog. I want to come home at the end of the day and watch a movie instead of watching a movie while stressing out that I am blowing off 2 perfectly good hours of studying.
I will be an RN in May, making all of this possible. So, no. I am not getting my Master’s in midwifery right at this moment. I am going to be an RN in an ED in New York City and that is the story these days.
