My eyes quickly scanned the apartment, locating my bag which contained keys, stethoscope, flashlight, a pair of scissors, a pocket mask and other nurse's tools. I thought to myself how Angie may keep me on the witness stand but I remembered that she and her Dad was in my court, so I asked a question only to change the subject
"Do I have everything Angie? I asked. Without missing a beat she continued.
"Another of missing your meals, she continued.
"That Mom is not good!"
"Mom you always tell me the importance of breakfast yet you miss it each and every day. I just don't get it."
I must put an end to this I thought.
"You're still growing. I snapped, rather sharply."
" I'm not!
"Well Mom," she continued,
"I have to agree with you when you say that breakfast is still the most important meal of the day and you know what else Mom?
"What else dear? I asked sarcastically.
"We all need to break the fast by nourishing our bodies after fasting all night, who said that Mom?"
Alright! Angie, I got it! You win; breakfast is indeed the most important meal of the day. We raced to the car.
Angie was a delightful child, often sounding older than her twelve years. She was full of life and showed much concern for others. She enjoyed learning. I reflected upon times I spoke about the importance of breakfast. She took to school and any instructions, seriously and applied it to life. She was an amazing twelve-year-old. She would often make one forget her age because she was so grown up. She pushed a small brown bag into my tote stating, I packed breakfast; eat it when you get to work.
"Thank you, what a nice thought" I smiled as we lingered in a loving moment, I proudly looked upon a very special child.
"I love you Mom". Thank you, sweetie, for loving me, and know how much I adore you!" I replied.
"Have a great day!" As we embraced, counsel left me with her last directive "Don't forget to eat your breakfast."
"I won't." I promised.
Seconds after Angie left the car, I was screeching into a parking place. In my mind's eye, I reviewed my- to-do list. As I exited the elevator, I was met by yells from a nursing assistant,
"My patient is not responding I need a nurse!"
I ran to the room, assessed the patient, she presented a need for cardiopulmonary resuscitation, provided she did not have a do not resuscitate order. The immediate assessment was critical. The information required to make the assessment was not in place. an arm band! This wasted time caused life-threatening minutes. Another learning opportunity and I had not gotten to my office. I noted the occurrence in the client's chart, gave some instructions to the staff regarding this occurence and headed to my office.
I had a class that would start in five minutes. I ran to the classroom to see that it was in order for my class. We shared the space with other departments, each requiring specific setups for for their scheduled presentations. I grabbed the telephone called the set-up department as I reviewed my lesson plan and assisted with the set-up.
At the end of the lecture, I responded to questions, gathered the quiz sheets and began to update each staff member’s educational record. Each student’s plan for an update was now in place. As the last student left, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly the Director of nurses hurriedly entered my office with a request that required my immediate attention. We must write a statement of corrections for the Department of Health regarding several issues that we had to improve upon immediately. I glanced at my watch, which read 1: 05 pm, “Where had the time gone!”
We gathered all needed resources to complete the assignment. We finished, it was 5:15 pm, and I quickly gathered my belongings and headed home.
Angie and her Dad were excited; as they were learning how to use our new cellular telephones. His was a blackberry, the one's attorneys are known to use for their numerous features. Angie and mine would be used for communication with each other. I was in no mood to learn about cell phones, I didn't want to see or hear a telephone. Angie picked up the bag holding it high and assuring that her father could hear her as she imitated her dad,
"Your honor. she gestured toward her Dad.
"I'd like to enter this as exhibit #1 bagged lunch".
" You see Mom," as she dropped her attorney's charade,
"This is no good," she whined, as she held up the lunch that I had not eaten.
"I'm sorry. I pleaded,
"I promise I'll do better." I then slumped into the comfort of an inviting pillow that was lying on the couch. As I was about to drift, Angie came with a hot bowl of soup. She sat at the foot of the couch as I sipped. It was delicious.
"I can't trust you to eat on your own."
"Dad," she called out excitedly to her father.
"Don't you think that it will be a good idea if we could call mom and remind her to eat her meals? The cell phones are right on time" The cell phones are right on time!"
"That's a great idea", her father agreed.
" It's like you're switching roles". Angie became more excited.
"Oh I'll be the Mother and you will be the Daughter until you are able to take your meals on your own, we will switch roles, and with the phones, we really can work this.
Eat your Meals demonstrates the saying, "When we teach our children, sometimes they teach us."
Eat Your Meals
"Come on Angie finish your breakfast" I pleaded after I checking the time.
"We must leave very soon if I'm to get you to school and me to work on time."
"I'm almost finished Mom." Angie responded.
"To have a truly healthy productive day, Angie continued,
"One must have a great meal at its start. That's what my Mom always told me."
I was silent. I hated when Angie quoted me at times like this, but she never missed an opportunity.
"But look at you," you haven't even started to eat your breakfast. Mom really, what's up with breakfast?" I did not answer
"Huh?" she waited. I still did not answer.
"Huh?", she waited, insisting that I answer her. I refused to answer her.
"Mrs. Mack did you or did you not eat your breakfast?" I attempted to answer with..
" Oh; I just don't have time to ….
"Mrs. Mack," Angie interrupted.
"Did you or did you not eat your breakfast?" she asked.
I still did not respond.
"Didn't you tell me that breakfast was the single most important meal of the day? She continued with her unrelinquishing line of questioning, emphasizing the words "you" and "the"…and her twelve-year-old eyes pieced my eyes like a seasoned prosecutor.
"I've also told you not to quote me," I replied. And my emphasis was on the word not! We both laughed. I was happy that I pulled her out of her attorney role play. Secretly, I thought to myself, this girl is practicing the profession that she admires, and felt jealous that she would choose law over nursing, she spoke frequently of being an attorney, and it seemed that she may be well on her way. She would listen to mine and my husband's discussions in reference to our days at work and knew that her Dad often had long days. That seemed not to bother her for she would say he always took time to have lunch.
Angie would hear me say there was no time for lunch, and mealtime has been always important to Angie, from a baby girl her mealtimes were an elaborate experience. When it came to meals0%;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;" class="Normal"> "Please, Mom?"
" Well," I thought to myself. What will I be getting myself into?
" May I say..
"No?", my husband responded.
"NO! you need us, we're doing it out of concern, let her try it. He agrees with anything that Angie wanted. I truly was outnumbered, and now with her Father's approval, Angie's plan was in action. Nothing would stop her.
The next day as I sorted through the week's "to-do-list", I decided to listen to my messages at the same time, knowing that Angie's instructions for using the cell phone were good. She mastered the technology so much better and faster then we did. I decided to put the cell phone on speaker, as I continued to check my schedules, sort mail etc Gail, my coworker entered, and there was the voice of Angie,
" Hello Liz, THIS IS YOUR MOTHER," Gail looked at me perplexed.
“This is what I’d like you to do.” I wasn’t thinking about Angie’s plan; first, stop what you are doing right now. Take a deep breath, and more importantly EAT YOUR MEAL!
Gail and I looked at each other and laughed haughtily. After regaining our composure Gail said we'll both listen to "your Mother". We spent a much-needed lunch break, and one of our most productive afternoons. Mother knows best and whats more Mother would be proud!
A cute story about how the distractions of a hectic life can upset our need to stop and take nourishment. You made me remember the boss I had long ago that chided me with his wisdom. "Stop and eat lunch every day." Unfortunately, he died rather young in his 70s. Throughout my college and later career, I rarely ate lunch unless I was with others who did so. I found it very efficient and rewarding to have a good breakfast, complete my schooling/work early and then, make myself play good home cooked dinner while I cooled down from my hectic days. It worked for me and I'm still healthy in my mid-70s. It is interesting that BlackBerrys are already a dead technology and that cell phones have made our lives even more distracting and hectic.
Unfortunately, I read the unformatted version of your story at the top of the page first. Please contact support at AD to get this corrected. You don't need to write, "she continued." All you need to do is open another quote in the same paragraph after interrupting the first quote. For example, "Hi," she said. "Did you eat your lunch."
Also, I noticed that you often did not provide a closing quote mark. The latest form of spelling grammar checking on MS Word will help you find those very easily.
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