After Three Days in the Hospital I Took a Turn for the Nurse

I'm meeting my old friend Mirta today. I wrote her a recommendation letter for her new course of study, and she wants to thank me by buying lunch. I agreed. I ALWAYS agree to work for food... I'm so proud of Mirta. She's had a tough life, mostly made tougher by marrying the wrong guy. She had two sons with him, but he was addicted to drugs and mentally ill. He killed himself, and, to use the great soul music line, all he left them was alone. But Mirta soldiered on, becoming her sons' mother AND father, working to support her family, and taking night classes to get a college degree. She started out as a shared receptionist for my firm and our sub tenant, and worked her way up to managing my shop. Her sons grew and now she has 3 grand kids. Mirta availed herself of state benefits, taking a hiatus from work for awhile, and raising those grandkids. But she always had a dream: she wanted to become a hospice nurse. When Mirta's mother was dying, a hospice nurse was there, and Mirta admired the woman greatly. It was typical Mirta -- somehow taking on the dirty jobs most people avoid. So now Mirta's in a nursing program, paid by the state. In another year and few months, she'll be an LPN. After that, she can become a RN. She'll be 50 by then, but still will have much to contribute. She and I are like brother and sister. We have a long standing mutual admiration society. And today we'll have a reunion. I have less and less patience, as I age, for the losers in life. It's a cliche I believe: winners find ways to win, no matter the odds, and losers find ways to lose. So much befell Mirta, it would have been understandable if she gave up, and ended up mired in misery. But she's such a winner, she's not let that happen. She deals with the alligators biting at her culo in the pit we all share, and somehow always pulls herself up and out of danger. Hell, maybe I'll pay for lunch after all...