We had a record-breaking 95 degrees today here in Chicago.
To stave off the heat, we took the bus up to Oak Street Beach. We arrived fully clothed, but Lake Michigan worked its magic. My husband could not resist.
After his swim, we munched on tasty tacos at the beach. Enjoy the city scenery with us. It’s not everyday you see beach and skyscrapers together.
Marv says that fun excursions like this are the reason we moved downtown!
Today we remember Marv’s uncle, Chester Roelofs, who died during WWII in the Battle of the Bulge.
A few years ago, we found his name inscribed in a line up of long, rectangular, ground-level slabs in Ardennes National Cemetery in Belgium. It was an awesome moment–to see all the names of people whose bodies were never recovered.
150 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With the help of Google, I found this document this morning:
Gold Star Deaths of the Christian Reformed Church in North America (1941-1973)
Uncle Chester’s information is listed as follows:
Roelofs, Chester A. – T/5 United States Army
Birth: 06/09/1918.
Entered service: 03/12/1942
Death: 12/19/1944, Battle of the Bulge
Parents: Bolt, Mr. and Mrs. Arend
Home: Prinsburg, MN;
Church: Prinsburg, MN Christian Reformed Church
Obituary in Young Calvinist: Apr 1946, p. 12
Also, I found a vivid account of Alfred Marcus’ years of service, including how he met up with hometown friend Chester Roelofs just before Chester died. You can read this fascinating account here. Uncle Chester is mentioned on page eight.
On this Memorial Day, we take a moment to pause and reflect…and to be thankful for the sacrifices of military families everywhere.
Nurses and nursing
Have you been hospitalized lately? If so, this NPR story about nurse staffing will interest you.
How long did it take for a nurse to answer your call bell? How often did a nurse come to assess your status? How much time did the nurse have to spend with you?
I’m not surprised with the results of these surveys. I could have said the same thing forty years ago when I was working on a med-surg floor–1 RN, 4 aides, 32 patients.
Patients are sicker now than then, but adequate staffing has always been a problem. It’s unnerving that the situation never gets resolved. And, unfortunately, until we figure out how to pay for health care in this nation, we may see similar survey results forty years from now.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
So, you’ve thought about writing your stories, but you certainly don’t have time. And you have no idea how to start anyway. Excuses.
Last Wednesday at the Palos Heights Public Library (IL), participants in Caregivers Share Your Story learned they could start writing their stories in only ten minutes. Caregivers can include all of us–we all either care for someone or ourselves.
First, they made a list of ten things they thought was important in their caregiving roles. These could be events, feelings, characteristics…whatever came to mind.
Second, they circled the one item that felt most important right then.
Third, they wrote nonstop (called a “free write”) for ten minutes. No thinking, no editing, just keeping the pen moving on the page.
Ten minutes later, each had a rough draft of a story. Something they could go back to some day to revise and refine. But the story was out of their minds and onto the page. Simple.
A photograph of a 2 month old human infant, his mother, his maternal grandmother, and his maternal great-grandmother.
Do a ten-minute free write every day, and you will have a book length manuscript in no time to revise and refine. Think in the future how your grandchildren will enjoy reading how you gave their grandpa Old Spice every Christmas because that’s what he was wearing the day you met, how you took your temperature daily for years in your effort to get pregnant for their mom, how that new baby nearly drove you over the edge as she mushed her peas time after time into the crevices of her high chair, and on and on. The little things. The family traditions. The things that make us human. The things that make us family.
I have just a few writings from my folks and maternal grandmother. I wish I had many more. I want to know about their ups and downs. I want to know them better. But once they died, their stories died too.
So, don’t wait. Start now. Write from your heart. Your grandkids will appreciate it…some day.
Next time, I’ll talk about why it’s good (and fun) as a caregiver to write our stories.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Florence Nightingale, also known as the Lady with the Lamp, providing care to wounded and ill soldiers during the Crimean War
You may have more in common with Florence Nightingale than you think! To honor this “founder of modern nursing” on her birthday, I’d like to share Ms. Nightingale’s view of life as a woman in her Victorian era:
“The morning is spent sitting round a table in the drawing room looking at prints, doing worsted work, reading little books. Everybody reads aloud from their own book or newspaper and every five minutes something is said. The afternoon is passed in taking little drives….when night comes women suffer physically the accumulation of nervous energy which had nothing to do all day and makes them feel every night when they go to bed as if they are going mad.” (*p. 14)
I’m forever thankful that Ms. Nightingale was a feminist before her time, rebelling against her Victorian life and proceeding to blaze the trail of modern nursing.
I can identify with her. I’d be no good sitting around doing handwork… How about you?
*Source: Monica Baly (Ed.). 1991. As Miss Nightingale said… London: Scutari Press.
Photo credit: Wikipedia
Here’s an opportunity to peruse an array of nursing journals for free! Scroll through NOW–you may find one or a few helpful to you in your practice. This free offer ends on May 12, the final day of Nurses Week.
Thanks to publishers Wolters Kluwer / Lippincott Williams & Wilkins for this professional recognition during Nurses Week.
This image depicts a Reiki treatment in progress.
Jane Van De Velde, nurse practitioner, writes this week on “Once a Nurse, Always a Nurse” on my friend Marianna Crane’s blog. Click to read how Dr. Van De Velde incorporates the skills she’s learned in nursing into her holistic practice of Reiki. And learn more about the healing power of Reiki at her Reiki Share Project site.
Indeed, once a nurse, always a nurse! During this week honoring nurses, I welcome you to join me tonight at Palos Heights Public Library in Palos Heights, IL, 6:30-8pm, to talk about how caregivers of all kinds can share their stories.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia / Author: James Logan; Uploaded by Andy Beer with agreement of author and models.
Source: History of Care shared from youtube.com
Marv helping others while on a New England tour
