What brings a nurse to tears?

When the parent calls to tell me thanks.   Yep, that is all, a simple thank you is all it took.

A few weeks ago, I was called in to help a counselor with a distraught young student.    Seemed she had made a decision that she regretted after the fact.   Yep, a boy was involved.    Then last week she came back in, concerned about new details she had heard about the boy.     I thought it was a bad clinic encounter:   We kept getting interrupted, she was shy and didnt know how or what to ask.  

Of all the things I help kids with, I admit, having conversation about kids having sex is my least favorite.   It can all go so wrong.   Kids hear what they want.   They can twist my words for their purpose,   And well, I am a mom to teenagers.   It is all just unsettling.   But it is part of my job, so I do it. I talk to the kids about intimate relationships.

But this time, it went right.   I encouraged the girl to please confide in her parents.    Legally I am not obligated to call parents when kids report certain concerns but as a mom, I really push hard for the kids to confide their concerns in a parent.  

This girl apparently not only confided in her parents, but according to her mom, it was because of my kindness, she knew that she could tell her mom.

Mom went out of her way to call and thank me for helping her daughter.
And well...that is what got me crying, it is indeed why we do what we do, things we don't necessarily like to talk about, but need to.