the beautiful nurse

My apologies if this post gets schmaltzy... but it is Valentine's Day and maybe I'm feeling especially lonely. 

A relative was admitted to the hospital a couple of days ago. I was with her in the emergency ward when she was going to be moved upstairs to another room (she will be fine, BTW). Before she was moved, I went into the hospital cafeteria to have lunch, having been told which room to later find my relative. And it was in the cafeteria where this nurse caught my eye. 

She was sitting a couple of tables away from me. She was rather understated in her appearance with her medium length brown hair tied back and she looked smart in her fashionably framed glasses. Her attention was on her smartphone as she ate. I sat at one side of the room against a wall facing her. 

I forced myself not to full-on stare because one, that would have been rude and unsettling, and two, I always get caught when I do that. Not knowing the nature of how hospital employees dress, I wasn't sure what her job was there. She looked absolutely lovely. 

I've never been one to have an 'approach' no matter how casual in nature. So when I was done eating, I got up and left. Besides, I had a relative's well-being to worry about.

I headed up to the room where my relative was supposed to be moved to and as I walked down the corridor, a nurse asked me which room I was looking for. I gave him the number, and he stepped aside to unveil my relative. Her assigned room had been changed. And while we were settling into this new room, she was told that she was being relocated once again. So soon thereafter, we were being moved to yet another floor in another wing of the hospital. 

The details of what happened next I don't recall, but at my relative's new room, her nurse and a trainee showed up at some point. It's in my mind that the trainee flashed a big, friendly smile when she looked at me. It took me awhile to realize that this oh-so-lovely trainee was the very same girl from the cafeteria! 

The time spent waiting with my relative in her room passed much more quickly as I relished any attention she got from both the training nurse and her trainee. There were the IVs and bits of conversation. I again tried not to stare.

I foolishly believed that as long as my relative was at the hospital, she would have the same nurse and trainee her entire stay. But when I arrived the next day, alas, the training nurse was still the nurse, yet no sign of the trainee. Bummer. 

Today, same thing - no sign of the trainee, although the nurse was different. However when I went down to grab lunch today, I thought I might have seen her. I'm just not sure. I'm not impressed with myself that I'm not sure. The woman I saw wasn't sitting alone this time, but rather talking with several others. And she wasn't dressed in the same nursing uniform, and wasn't wearing glasses. The sunlight was flashing through the window that was behind her from opposite the direction I was looking. Maybe it was wishful thinking on my part that it was her. Or maybe there's a sameness in how the young nurses pull their hair back. I wasn't sitting closely enough to overhear any real conversation, but I think I heard her say something that included the words: "my boyfriend." Best I assume it was a different woman! 

Sadly enough, it has occurred to me that this lovely nursing trainee must be half my age, or thereabouts. That is particularly worrisome now that I have an ominous milestone coming up very soon. Still, it feels good to feel giddy and alive at the sight of a beautiful woman like this. My imagination came up with the scenario that she is working as a model while she puts herself through nursing school.

I tried to steal a few glances at her fingers to see if she wore any special rings (she wasn't) and read her nametag when she got close enough up in my relative's hospital room. Hmmm... isn't that the same name as an NFL quarterback? And that's as much as I'm going to tell about her name! 

Besides insecurities about my age compared to hers (and of course, I'm no Michael Douglas, Bill Wyman, Hugh Hefner, etc.), I'm still trying to find my career direction. Right now, it's somewhere in Internet marketing and network marketing. If I succeed there, maybe I'll have the confidence and wherewithal  to go after what I really want relationship-wise. And here I was enjoying the long odds of my eating in the cafeteria that first day at the time I did, sitting where I sat, and then my relative being moved twice until she was settled into a room that this nursing trainee was assigned to. 

the Kennedy Center has Heart after all

My previous post, which I've since deleted, on this blog told of me relocating to another blog, which I've since decided to part ways with. Didn't feel quite right. Anyway, the posting I had linked to at that blog is now copied and posted here; I'll be doing the same with some of the other musings I'd written there. 

I wrote around two and a half years ago about how one of my all-time favorite bands Heart wasn't a part of the tribute to Paul Simon at the Kennedy Center Honors during his year of induction. Ahhh... Heart - is it wrong of me to find much of their appeal due to the Wilson sisters, Ann and Nancy? I mean, it's not just my ears that find them pleasing. Anyway...

At the same time I ordered three Tim Ferriss 4-Hour books, I also got Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll, written by Ann & Nancy Wilson, with Charles R. Cross. As much as I was looking forward to the practical knowledge I was sure to get from Tim Ferriss, I had been anticipating a tome from the Wilson Sisters for even longer. Are there pictures included? Yes there are; here is my favorite:

Ann and Nancy are seated in front; parents and older sister in the back.
 Such a beautiful family! 

It took me awhile to be able to order this book, but I finally did. I had read the reviews on Amazon; I remember one in particular that criticized it for spending too much time recalling the early family years of the daughters as young children plus all of the moving because it was a military family, and not enough on Ann and Nancy's time as professional musicians. Hogwash! I found myself getting more caught up in imagining and living their lives as a young family. Through the hardships of being uprooted so very often, I loved the feeling of being with them and even knowing them, if that's possible. 

If you're familiar with the name S. Ennis, it's probably because Sue is often credited as a co-writer of many of Heart's songs. Well, it was fun to read about how she and Ann first met in school. They go way back, and on through to adulthood, all three of them. And there's even mention of John Mellencamp, whom ironically I mentioned in my aforementioned post on Gold Mountain Musings, Heart-less at the Kennedy Center. 

So, on to the title of this post: the Kennedy Center has Heart after all. If you saw this past December's broadcast of the Kennedy Center Awards, you'll know that the seminal rock band, Led Zeppelin, was inducted. In attendance were the three surviving members: Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones. And yes, what I'm getting to is Ann & Nancy got be participate in the tribute this time around! Besides the influence of the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel on their musical aspirations, was the even more obvious influence of Led Zeppelin. Heart has performed Zeppelin covers since their early days. Read Kicking & Dreaming, and you'll learn how early on - I wonder if Plant recalls just how early!

The late John Bonham's son, Jason, played drums during Ann & Nancy's performance. Of course, Jason is no stranger to playing their songs anyway, having performed with Plant, Page, and Jones many times already. I loved the added touch of Jason wearing a bowler hat, and that being carried through to all of the singers in the vast chorus that joined the performance towards the end. Very nice!