Dolores And Me

We always had a project to work on, or plans to make for a trip and that’s the way our weeks and months passed. The ever present ‘beeper’ for our Operating Room call was a part of our lives when we found ourselves working side by side in the Operating Room. It went with the job, and we accepted it, fitting good events in on our days off. Our stretches of call were long, far too long, doing seven straight days and nights tied to the hospital would take it’s toll on our families and certainly on us nurses. We all found it far too long.

There were two RNs’ on call-back for emergencies at all times, and getting called back to work was part of the job. Dropping everything and heading to the hospital in all kinds of weather, and in all seasons, became a way of life. That way of life became very draining after awhile. One night in particular we were called back and spent from midnight to six o’clock in the morning in surgery. At that point there was no sense in going home as our workday started at seven o’clock in the morning.

We went out back to the little lawn area of the hospital and sat at the picnic table and watched the sunrise. A beautiful, still morning with a hint of how lovely the day would become was balm to the soul after the harrowing night we had experienced.

Out of nowhere trotted two handsome ring-necked pheasants. We sat together and silently observed them and lost ourselves in thought. Nothing needed to be said, we just sat quietly together and the sight of those beautiful creatures somehow gave us a second wind and the ability to face the day ahead.

Yes, we are friends, having had a long and very established relationship which continues even though I now live back home in Newfoundland. She has been here for a short visit, and I hope the next visit is longer. I have so much I want to show her, so many things to share with her. I certainly owe her a ‘guide’ experience because she is the person that called to tell me the Lady Slipper flowers were blooming and then crawled around in the brush and black flies until I got the correct camera exposure and the photo I wanted. Only Dolores would do that, so I really do owe her for many such kindnesses.

One New Year’s Eve we were ‘on call’ together. That did not bother us, as it is a celebration is not one either of us especially enjoyed for some odd reason. So we bought a little bottle of champagne, and sat together with our husbands watching the flames dance in the fireplace of her home as the New Year arrived.

And that was, to this day, the best New Years’ Eve I ever had!
That is called enjoying a true and strong friendship. I hope it never changes.