Life Lessons from Miss Annette

After graduating from college, the next step to becoming a registered dietitian is completing an internship. As a dietetics intern, you are at just about the lowest level of anyone in the entire medical facility- way below medical students. You may feel excited and slightly important in those dress clothes and white coat, but then you actually have to navigate your way from the critical care unit to the oncology floor, and you start to doubt your abilities and knowledge. Then, you make your way to the right place and the unit clerk glances up at the white coat, scans her eyes up and down you, and sees the "intern" badge and your feeling of inferiority is confirmed by the audible sigh and bored look on her face. This was my first run in with "Annette." As the weeks went by, I came to appreciate her, and in turn, I believe she became less annoyed by my presence. I learned it was she who held the power- the charts- and in order to obtain a chart, you had to know how to approach her. There were unspoken rules. Whenever an arrogant med student disrupted the order of procedure by assuming he would just grab a chart off of her desk (preposterous idea), Annette would close her eyes tightly and say in a stage whisper, "Jaysus gimme stremph!" If someone committed a more serious offense, she wouldn't bother with whispering- she wanted you to know you were wrong and that you better pray for divine intervention also before she whooped you. She wore her hair in a tight bun on top of her head, and when she got really mad, she would get to trembling and you could see that shiny, black bun start to shake- that's when you knew to take cover. As unit clerk, she was responsible for answering the patient call lights, so I am sure you can imagine how exhausting that can become after 12 hours. This is just one of many unpleasant calls from unsatisfied customers.

(Buzz) Miss Anette: Yes, Mister Smith
Mr. Smith: My tv ain't working
Miss Annette: Mmm-hmm, somebody be in there soon, Sugar
Mr. Smith: I been waiting for an hour now! What the ---- is going on? I am so sick of this ---- place and you ---- people.
Miss Annette: (trembling) Sweet Lord Jaysus gimme stremph!

Good thing for those patients that the Sweet Lord always came through for her because, as far as I know, she never did whoop anybody. The past couple of weeks, I've been dealing with some anger issues myself. If you spend anytime at all on social media, you are probably bombarded with negativity. While it's true there is an abundance of bad news these days, we often forget to focus on the good news. In this age of social media, we have become so accustomed to sharing our opinions on every topic under the sun. We say things that we would probably never say in-person, and to top it off, we have become so used to this that we believe everyone is dying to know our opinions. Like our "friends" (who we never see or actually talk to) are thinking, "oooh I wonder how Katie feels about…" To quote a sweet friend, "What must I think of myself?!" There are some topics that I am very passionate about, and I am proud of that; however, I am not always proud of the way I share my feelings. If I choose to harbor hate and anger and feed those emotions, that is what comes out through my words and actions. While I can still hate the offense, I could choose instead to harbor and feed my love for the solution. It doesn't feel very good to be on the receiving end of someone's opinion. There are times when people want to share their beliefs for what caused Caroline's special circumstances and at those times I would like to completely annihilate those people. As she gets older, I know Caroline will hear others' opinions and be placed in situations where she has to explain her history. While I want her to be knowledgable and eloquent, I also want her to be kind. It certainly doesn't help her if I am not modeling that kind of communication. I'm all for sharing beliefs and convictions, but I want to make an effort to speak the truth in love.

I need to think before I give my advice to a friend…
Is it even wanted?
Before I share my opinion…
Is it Right? "Well, yeah I'm always right…"
Is it Necessary? "Well, maybe not…"
Is it Kind? "No, I guess not…"

"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." 
~ Philippians 4:8 

If I check my thoughts and words by those standards, often it is truly best for me to follow Miss Annette and close my eyes and whisper, "Jesus, give me strength."

Around here, when we feel overwhelmed, we sit on the porch and play with our bubble wand. Sometimes we blow bubbles and sometimes we wield it like a light saber- both good therapy.