You can't always get what you want...

...but sometimes, you get what you need. (Hope you don't mind me paraphrasing the 'Stones.)

What I want is to work with a full crew for a full shift. I realize this is asking too much. Still, one can always aspire for perfection.

That said, Mrs. A rolled up to me in her wheelchair after supper as I was desperately trying to get my med pass finished.

"Dr. Tracy, I'm going back to my room and I'll have to wait for a while before they can come and help me to bed." (She calls me Dr. Tracy when I'm passing meds.)

"I know Mrs. A. I'm sorry."

"You know, there's a bible verse. I think it's in James. The beginning of the verse says 'If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight reign on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless'." (She's quoted this to me before and it always makes me think she's overheard me swearing.) "But the second part says, 'Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...' That's what you all do. You could work anywhere else, but you choose to work here and we are thankful for everything you do and everyday you are here. And the next time someone gets in your face, you tell them, 'Hold on, buddy. My Father in heaven is proud of me and all I do'."

I thanked her and gave her a hug and went back to running around like a decapitated hen. For the rest of the shift, I felt like Wonder Woman.