"Where Mommy Works"

When Meg was a little girl, I went to work part-time in the lab at Saint Francis Medical Center in Monroe. She went to the preschool, just a dozen houses down from ours. When I got home from work, we would tell each other about our day. I would ask about what she had for lunch, and I would tell her what I had eaten in the hospital cafeteria. At the time, I wore nail polish. Meg would say, "When I grow up, I want to work in the lab, eat lunch in the cafeteria, and wear nail polish." Her sweet way of saying, "I want to be just like Mommy."
Whenever we drove on the interstate past the hospital, she would look at the letters on the building that spelled out the name. She read it, as she followed the words with her finger, "Where Mommy Works!"
Now, as soon as my state license clears, I will return to work at the St. Francis Lab. This time I will be working in the Hematology department, instead of Blood Bank. I haven't worked in Hematology for 31 years(!), so it will be a whole new experience.(In my past hospital experience, I've gotten the impression that, if the lab was a band, Hematology would be the flute section - home to all of the stress and drama. I hope that is not the case in this department.) But I look forward to the challenge of re-learning and growing as a technologist.

I remember what a change it was for all of us when, once Janet was in school and Grandpa was in the nursing home, Mommy went to work at Confederate Hospital (which later became LSU Medical Center - Shreveport). We were proud of Mommy, though not surprised, for her ability to learn new technology and establish a successful second career. In addition to her routine EEG work, she was on-call for special sleep studies and neuro-surgery cases. She had an article published, and eventually served as Editor-in-Chief for the Delta Recorder, the regional professional publication for EEG. She attended professional conventions, and passed her state and national registry exams. We all knew that she was brilliant, but she continued to grow and learn throughout her work as an EEG tech.

I hope that my kids will be proud of me, resuming my medical career after all this time. In that sense, "I want to be just like Mommy."