I didn't always want to be a nurse. When I was a kid, the idea never even crossed my mind. It was a "girl thing", plain and simple.

Years went by and I grew up. I went off to college, went into the army, went off to war, came home and went to work. Still, the idea of becoming a nurse never crossed my mind.

My work moved me around the country. I lived in Florida where I worked for Sea World. I lived in California where I worked on the Queen Mary, a luxury ocean liner that had become a hotel. I lived in Texas where I helped an oil billionaire write a book. Still, the idea of becoming a nurse never crossed my mind.

Then one day, I was sick. I was sitting in the lobby of a busy hospital in Connecticut and I noticed a patient on a gurney being wheeled by me. He was a man about 35 years old and he had a scared look on his face. Passing the other way was a nurse and she smiled at the patient as she walked by. An instant later, the patient didn't have the scared look anymore. I thought to myself, "I could do that. I could make a real difference in someone's life just by smiling at them." That's the first time it crossed my mind that I might want to be a nurse.

As soon as I became well again, I decided that I'd come back to Indiana where my life had begun. I couldn't get the nursing thing out of my mind. I decided to go back to school.

Part of nursing school is going to a hospital two days a week and working with patients. I was right about the smile. It works. But nursing is about lots of things. It's exciting because there are always new patients, no one quite like any other, and the nurse has to figure out how to best help that patient. There are pieces to the puzzle: X-Rays, lab results, what the patient tells you, what you, yourself, can see, hear, and feel.

We all know that doctors save lives. We're grateful that they do. But, nurses are the ones who see the patient most often, in and out all day long. A nurse is first on the scene in life-and-death situations. In fact, a nurse most often is the first to recognize that it is a life-and-death situation.

Nurses help people. They help their patients in so many ways. They help patients become well again. They make them feel as comfortable as they can be. They teach their patients what they need to know to take care of themselves. They hold their hands. They rub their backs. And, yes, they have a smile for them, especially when they're scared.

I've done a lot of different things in my life, lots of special kinds of things. I got to pet Shamu at Sea World after the park closed for the night. I got to sleep in the same stateroom on a ship where a Prime Minister, a Queen, and movie stars had slept. I've had lunch with billionaires.

Now, I'm doing something more special, a lot more special, because it matters so much more. I'm going to be a nurse. You can be one too!