1. Claims that you were too sick to go to school were met with instant suspicion.
2. In fact, just to confirm their suspicions - and to mess with you - the nurse parent would ask you to describe your (imaginary) symptoms.
3. Their typical response to that was:
4. Or:
5. So staying at home in bed simply wasn't an option.
6. No matter how much you cried or pleaded, they remained icily unmoved. That's what brutal experience with patients has done to them.
7. And when you were legitimately sick - after undergoing 15 rounds of tests to prove authenticity - your nurse parent took no shit when it came to you swallowing their mysterious healing concoctions.
8. Elsewhere, they weren't especially gentle when it came to looking after your personal hygiene as a child. You were just another patient needing a firm hand.
9. They could be uncomfortably graphic when it came to explaining medical issues to you.
10. And when you were a teenager, your nurse parent had no embarrassment talking to you about the importance of safe sex.
11. They always had a stash of pills, potions and creams at home to soothe any ailment.
12. You were accustomed to this mortifying conversation, if your parent worked in the same hospital you were born in, and then you later met some of your parent's nursing colleagues: "Oh, this is so-and-so, they helped to deliver you! Isn't that funny?'
13. You fast learned to never, EVER touch their immaculately clean, starched uniforms hanging around the house.
14. You developed a super spidey sense to detect when they'd had a bad day on the wards and just needed some peace and quiet.
15. Their feet were always sore from being on the wards all day...
16. ...a complaint that automatically sorted out any Christmas/birthday present conundrums.
17. You were also painfully aware - because you were told several times a day - that nursing is a back-breaking job.
18. As a nurse, they prided themselves on being able to diagnose any condition with just a few listed symptoms.
19. For that reason, they were the resident expert in your neighbourhood that everyone came to for medical advice.
20. You had to quickly adjust to their crazy shift work rotas.
21. Their weeks of night shifts were particularly rough.
22. This sleep-deprived zombie that was once your parent was a real treat to have around that week.
23. As they slept the next day, you had to make sure not to make a sound around the house.
24. And, of course, there was the heartbreak of waking up on Christmas morning and remembering that your nurse parent had to work.
25. But, despite all the hardship they'd endured, your nurse parent always dreamed of the day you'd announce you wanted to follow them into the nursing profession.
26. However, the intimate knowledge of how hard they work made you think:
27. But no matter how demanding the job is, they never regretted their choice.
28. Because, as any nurse will tell you, it's a vocation, not a job.
