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Here are my friend Michelle’s answers to her interview. Same rules apply.

1. Why don’t you have a blog?

Well, I never really knew much about them until you and Jason had yours, and then I was just interested in reading other people’s—I never really thought about having my own until you mentioned it to me last year(?) I think. At that time, I didn’t think I’d have enough things to say that would be of interest to other people—maybe I still don’t. I guess at this point it’s just because I don’t really know much about setting up and maintaining one, and find my time occupied by other things (some worthwhile, others probably not) that I haven’t done the research. Besides, sometimes I find myself going on and on about a topic, and later wished I hadn’t said so much :). Maybe someday; I do like to talk!

2. If you could study something other than nursing/public health, what would it be? Why?

I imagine I should probably limit myself to one topic here, but I won’t. I think it would be one of four: dance, aeronautical engineering, English/creative writing/journalism or sociology/law. Dance because even though I’ve only learned a little, I love it. When I was a younger, I always wanted to be on Broadway when I grew up. (My dad is a former music teacher/professional musician in orchestras and dance bands, so I grew up watching and being part of musicals.) Aeronautical engineering because it was the only session I attended that interested me at an elementary school career fair, and it is so cool! The physics behind the science of flight is so amazing and intriguing to me. English/creative writing/journalism because I’ve always loved to read. I love watching good movies, too, but they’re both about storytelling. My (h.s.) senior English teacher was incredible, and instilled an interest in writing in me, and made me believe I was good at it (although it my skills may not be apparent in the way I am answering these questions 🙂 ). Sociology/law/public policy because I am interested in human behavior, and why people act the way they do, and how can we make our communities and societies better. I think I would be more interested in the scholarly aspect of law—researching and consulting, rather than actually trying cases. In fact, before I ended up going to grad. school for public health, I seriously considered law school.

3. What is the best thing about being a school nurse?

I guess the best thing about being a school nurse is the ability to build relationships with the children. Let me qualify my next statement by saying that simply living in an impoverished neighborhood does not make a person a bad, incapable, or uncaring parent. I will say, however, that many of the children with whom I work have some very difficult circumstances and very difficult lives. Our superintendent once said (and perhaps she heard it from someone else—I don’t recall) that “children are not born “at-risk”. They are put “at-risk” by the actions of adults in their lives.” For the most part, I agree with that. Excluding the concept of original sin, I recognize that there are children born with mental, emotional, or physical problems that would put them “at-risk”, but otherwise they all start out pretty much on a level playing field. So to tie that in with my main point, as a school nurse, I have the opportunity to build relationships with children to help them learn to take care of themselves, to succeed in life, and to become productive members of society. A lot of times it’s small things, such as cleaning a cut and applying a bandaid, administering medication, or even giving a hug, or bigger things, like helping the family glasses for the child, or talking to a child who’s parent has died. Of course, I may not see the results of that encounter or that relationship any time soon, or maybe even ever, but my prayer is that it would make a positive impact in that child’s life.

4. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? Why?

(You may be beginning to see why I alluded to myself as long-winded in the first question 🙂 ). On the one hand, you could say I realize none of us is perfect, and I am content with the way God made me. On the other hand, there are so many of those imperfections, it’s hard to pick just one!! If I must, I guess it would be to be less timid and more self-confident. I know there are times when I should take a stronger stance against something I know or believe to be wrong. There are job opportunities I haven’t taken because I wasn’t sure of myself. It would probably make me frustrated less frequently at my job. It would improve my relationship with my husband. In the situations where other people’s perceptions or opinions truly should be inconsequential, I wouldn’t worry about them.

5. You were recently baptised, I know. Has your faith grown or changed because/since in any significant way?

I would say my faith probably has grown some since then, but the baptism was probably a consequence of that, and not a cause. What I mean is that I believe baptism to be an outward expression of my relationship with Christ, and I was baptized at the time because I never had been, needed to be to join our church, and wanted to also. I think the step of joining the church was part of the growth process and there have been “spurts” since then, in that I continue to try to examine my life in the sense of living it as in line with God’s will, as best I can, and continue to try to study his Word, although there is PLENTY of room for growth in that area. I hope that answered the question.