*The Gift Of Life*

Yesterday I went into work at my job as an RN in a psychiatric facility for adolescents. It is a job that I love, but it can also bring heartbreak. I always allow myself to establish a bond of closeness with these troubled adolescents because sometimes it is the only true bond they have in their lives. We are taught as nurses not to get too close to our patients, but how can you be a good nurse if you are unable to empathize and feel? With some patients this is possible, but not with children. Children have a keen awareness of whether the feelings and emotions you extend to them are real. They, almost always, have issues with trust in their young lives.
Last December, we had a young girl who I shall not name, come into our facility depressed and suicidal. We admit a lot of children like this one and you might wonder how children can be suicidal, well they can and they are. In the short time that we have them, usually only a few days, we do our best to give them hope and a will to live. I would like to believe that we have succeeded with some. This 13 year old I am speaking of hung herself and died, just as she said she would. Many of us were deeply upset by this, we all came together as a group last night, remembering her and honoring her memory. We all needed some type of closure and we need to continue to do what we can.

"The gift of life is never more or less,
Either days or years are merely moments.
Reverence remains the source of bliss,
More memories do not increase remembrance.
If death must early come, then let it be
No more nor less than if it had come late:
A part of a much larger mystery.
Leaving wind and wisdom in it's wake,
Longing is the music of our sphere,
Yearning for a time past time and space
In which all that we love is ever her,
Love everlasting, which is now our grace,
Living with us more than we can bear."
(anonymous)