I’ve been a nurse for almost 9 years and most days I feel like I’ve come to this place in my career where I can be empathetic but not get emotionally wrapped up in situations and circumstances.  It’s not that I’m cold or uncaring…I used to cry at everything when I was a new nurse.  But as I matured in my profession I learned that this is what leads to burnout.  So I learned how to detach myself…to leave work at work.  Today was a difficult day.  It was too close for comfort…too close to home…too much like a situation that is happening right now in my family.  I had it together…at least I thought I did…but at the end of the day I broke down and I cried.  And I think that it was appropriate for me to do so.  I think it means that I haven’t come to the end of my career.  I never want to get to a point where I feel nothing.  Today just reminded me how much I love what I do despite the stress and long hours away from my son and my husband.  Today I made a difference in a family’s life.