Oh Priscilla...

I work with some wonderful and talented women; nurses who've been in the field longer than I have been alive, in some cases. Each day I am thankful for the opportunity to work with, and learn from them. Foremost in my mind today is a lovely little nurse named Priscilla. She's been an R.N. for over fifty years, and at the age of 72, she has no plans to stop. Priscilla is truly the heart and soul of our practice, and there is nothing she cannot do; or has not done ;-). In fact, she is known throughout the land as Glinda, the Goodnurse of Nashua Medical Group. I think it is safe to say that there is very little she has not seen or heard in her long tenure of patient care. We, aspiring nurses that is, can learn a lot from a nurse like Priscilla, fearless and friendly...I think those words best describe her.

Today however, I have reached a whole new level of appreciation for her. She is the first 72 year old woman who has, to my knowledge, made me blush! Whilst going about my morning routine of Swine Flu vaccinations, (Side note, we're in phase four so if you haven't had it yet, get the shot!) and along comes Priscilla from the merry land of Telephone Triage. She stopped quietly surveying the Nurse's Station before grabbing an insulated lunch bag and gently iterated, "God, I am such a lunch box slut!"

Allow me to repeat for you this comment from a 72 year old Registered Nurse: "God, I am such a lunch box slut!"

I don't know when I have ever heard Priscilla utter any sort of profanity or insult. She is truly patient and kind, and so "un-vulgar" that to hear her say the word "slut" in any context both shocked and amazed me and everyone else standing at the Nurse's Station. In fact, I was so red with shock that the patient I shortly thereafter brought in to give the Swine Flu shot to asked me if I was alright. In fact, I am red-faced right now as I write this, to such point that I can see my own reflection in the computer monitor. That's no small accomplishment for an LCD screen!

The best part about this comment is I have no idea whatsoever prompted her to say it. Until today, I had no idea that lunch boxes could even be sluts. Or that the carrying of one by sheer association could make you a slut. According to Priscilla, though, it can. So thus the lunch box sluts are born!