Page 5 of Rise Above

Popping my neck, I quickly changed into sweats

and grabbed a pen and notepad. It irritated my advisor so badly that I hand wrote my papers first. He always said that by the time he read my typed version, it was technically not my first draft. I had a bad habit of editing as I transferred my hand-written words to typed ones. I tried to keep that in mind as I started on my intro.

Words seemed to flow from my pen without me

even needing to think. Social work was my passion, but medical social work was my drive. For years now, I’d wanted to conduct research on the medical practices in the United States. It excited me and frustrated me at the same time. Obviously the medical world needed to be better, the question was how. I didn’t have all the answers or even necessarily good ones, but I wanted to try. No one would ever suffer like me again.

By the time my phone beeped to alert me of a text, I

had essentially finished my introduction. Tomorrow all I’d have to do was type and edit before submitting to my advisor, Craig Donnelly. A little smile graced my face. There had been a time where this program and my job killed me. Times like these made me feel crazy proud of myself; my research emboldened me.

Standing up and stretching, I shot Dre a text, happy

she made it home safely. Dre was a great friend and my first one in Illinois. When I stepped into the hospital my

17

Rise Above

first day, I was so nervous because I knew no one. Within ten minutes, Dre had hooked herself onto me and made it her mission to show me the entirety of First Memorial. I couldn’t help but love her. She was bubbly, friendly, and smart. She was so totally herself, and a piece of me envied that. Andrea was a rock star operating room (OR) nurse, and I couldn’t imagine my last three years without her. Essentially, all my friends were connected to her. To be fair, Dre could make friends with a gator though; that was just who she was.

My phone sounded again, lighting up to indicate a

Facetime from my friend. I hid a laugh as I answered Dre. “Yes ma’am?”

“Ugh, so Southern and proper.” Natalie’s beautiful

face popped onto my screen, sticking her tongue out at me. She often stole Dre’s phone. “You’re really picking fucking soccer over us?”

This time the laugh escaped. “You know I love you,

Nat, but soccer is my one true love. Plus, I haven’t played in like three months!”

“Whatever. You don’t love us.” Natalie pouted.

Natalie and Dre were roommates and had done their clinical rotations for nursing together. Their bond was tighter than Gorilla glue, tighter than SEAL battle buddies. They were essentially sisters. Really, all three of us were. Natalie was a nurse in the neurology unit—my unit.

“Why would you even want to get sweaty?” Natalie

asked, frowning.

“I like to?” I shrugged and headed to my bathroom

to brush my teeth.

18

Rise Above

“There are far better ways to get sweaty, love.”

Dre’s puff balls popped into the frame, a huge smile on her face. “Mainly sex.”

Natalie snorted, her black hair falling into her face.

“I don’t think Aife knows what sex feels like anymore.”

“Can you forget?” Dre asked in shock. “Aife, love,