Hugging your parent after their long day of work, you catch a whiff of something familiar. Yep, it's the smell of professional grade disinfectant and someone's stink. This has become the everyday smell you've come to accept when hugging them, since they got that piece of paper saying they were a nurse.
Those of us who have these wonderful people as parents have a lot in common growing up around them. Here are five ways to know that you were raised by a nurse or nursing student:
#1: You'll Never Forget the First Time You Smelled Formaldehyde.
Yes, it's a very strong smell that will never leave you once you've taken it in. From day one of your parent's nursing classes, that overwhelming scent has hung around the house. Then comes the horrendous moment you become accustomed to it and you mourn that your nose has died to all good things.
#2: You've Had Dead Animals in Your Fridge
It was a shock the first time you open the fridge for some juice and find an eyeball looking back at you. Anybody else would've thought you were in a murderer's house, but you know it's the life of a nursing student learning anatomy. This is scarring at first, and there are jokes of therapy later on, but you come to expect weird things when this is your life.
#3: They Come to You to Look for Veins
This was one that made me wonder if vampires were real. When your parent is being tested on finding the best place to insert an I.V., you begin to question their methods. Your parent comes up to family members randomly and starts pushing your hand looking for veins...anyone can tell you this is the strangest feeling. Then comes the day you find yourself doing it to others—friends, family, significant others—and you realize, horribly, that you're becoming your parent.
#4: You're Convinced They Know Everything about All Medications
Even though they tell you time and time again that medicine is something new, you still think they know whether it's a godsend or not. This becomes contentious and it takes you forever to stop asking every time you have to take a new pill. However, there are those special moments when you go to your parent with a problem, and they have just the magic medicine to take away the nasty whatever and save the day!
And finally....
#5: They Are the Worst Kind of Patient
When you're sick and out with God knows what, they are the best people to have around because they know exactly what to give you to hold you till the doctor's visit. However, the tables turn when they're the ones sick. They become the most stubborn crybabies known to man! They refuse to go to the doctor and stop taking their medicine before the dose is complete. Though their remarkable lack of sense drives you up the wall, you still love them and try to make them feel better.
For all these reasons—and countless more—having a nurse for a parent is a wonderfully crazy life. You can rely on them for help when you're not feeling 100% and learn how to care for those around you later. So go home or call them and thank them for bringing an extra layer of nuttiness to your life, and share a laugh over vein testing.
