So, mom’s been hounding me to write, so I figured I probably should.

I took a college class my senior year of HS, I ended up earning 10 college credits for that one class. My teacher was the type that you could go to if you ever had a problem & she’d be more than willing to help you. Whether it was with class work, or problems at home; she always sent that vibe that she was ready to take on whatever challenge you threw at her.

Although she taught me a lot in the 9 months I had class with her, there’s always this one thing that will stick out. She’d always correct us girls every time we said, “When I’m a nurse & not ‘just’ a CNA..” she’d always say, “Never say ‘just’, forget the word even exists, you’re not ‘just’ anything, you’re a CNA & that in itself is something to be proud of.”

Anyways, going on with my story, I was in a resident’s room the other day at work filling water pitchers with fresh water & ice & one of the residents was asking why her toothbrush & toothpaste had been moved off the side of the sink, where she had always kept it. And her daughter was in the room & she goes, “Oh, its fine mom, I’ll look for it, she’s ‘just’ the water girl.”

Although I didn’t say anything, I was really kind of upset at first. ‘Just’ the water girl? Where does she come off saying that? One, I am a CNA & proud to be at that. And two, the word, ‘just’ had gotten to me; Even if I was the water girl, is that not satisfying enough for you? It seemed like she was sort of talking down to me.. ‘just the water girl’. Pff. I continued filling water pitchers & couldn’t stop thinking about what she had said. & then later that day, one of the nurses was talking about a facility she worked in.. “But back then, I was ‘just’ a CNA..” & I couldn’t help but keep thinking about what our teacher had taught us.

Nobody in my eyes, is ‘just’ anything. “She’s ‘just’ a 2 year old, she’ll learn.” But that two year old is quite cute & you don’t know what you’d do without her, do you?

I don’t know.. JUST something I’ve been thinking about..