I have enjoyed meeting several of Mom's nursing school friends and families through the years. A letter received with a new address. A phone call chain when news was grim. Effort and energy to keep in touch even as military husbands moved some far and often. Encouragement as families grew or fell apart, in sickness and in health.
Linked together as the perils of nursing school took its toll. Hospital night shifts, early lectures, together 24/7, roommates that came in late from a forbidden date. Somewhere in between that first newborn delivery-so scary and so sacred to the grim task of making a body ready for the morgue these young girls matured into caring, responsible women.
I marvel at how they stayed in touch without facebook, without the internet.
It took a deliberate determination worth all the effort as they were/are bound forever kindred spirits. Mere mortals cannot phantom what these nurses, these angels of mercy saw, endured, and cared for nor comprehend the obstacles women in 1950's nursing school had to face.
Numbers naturally dwindle as years go by. Those RNs willing and able gather in downtown San Antonio for reunions. The Baptist Hospital with several add ons and upgrades in its familiar place. The nursing student dormitories converted into administrative offices. Marital status no longer relevant. No more bed check.
One year Mom and Joyce went through those offices and found the space that had been their dorm room. What memories and a surprise to the present occupants. Mom told them how Joyce liked to rearrange the furniture. Mom said she had to be careful not to trip when coming in from a late shift.
At the most recent reunion Mom's group told the present staff about the tunnel under the street connecting the hospital with the nursing school. Apparently long forgotten. The visiting retired nurses had great fun finding the old door and the tunnel which does still exist. Just no longer used. Mom said they walked thru that tunnel every day. What a great piece of history rediscovered.
I stood beside them. Mom and Joyce holding hands chatting as friends do. Joyce's only child on her way to move her near grandchildren many states away from lifelong friends and familiar surroundings.
"I know this is the last time I will see Joyce" Mom said to me in the car. I ponder this as my chest clinches tight.
How do you say goodbye for the last time? I know they feel the same ten ton weight, the walls closing in. But these are old school nurses. Raw emotion is kept private.
Mom has since talked to Joyce on the phone. Her new apartment, many states away, is next door to her grandchildren. After 60 years of just dropping by, lunch dates and reunions, phone calls and emails will now have to do. Keeping in touch as always. Thankful for the opportunity.
Time marches on, Life is full of change, so it goes. kisses
