A GOAL TO HELP OTHERS

GAIL TOOMEY—TUCSON, ARIZONA

IN 1990 I FELT IMPELLED to pursue a career in Christian Science nursing. I was in a good management position that would probably continue to grow, and yet my life felt empty. I recalled a brief time I'd spent working in a private residential living facility. It had been demanding work—and I must admit I'd felt unappreciated at times. But when I realized it probably required as much humility for the residents to ask for assistance as was required of me at the time to help them, my pride melted. I began to feel love for each one.

When I left that work after several months, I felt that it had been a wonderful, broadening, learning experience. Working in a field radically different from anything I'd ever done before had stretched me and at the same time boosted my selfconfidence. Still, I never thought I'd want to enter a nursing career. And yet now becoming a Christian Science nurse was all I could think about.

To test my desire and motives for nursing, I volunteered weekends at a nearby Christian Science nursing facility. Volunteering felt good. The personal interaction, and the feeling that I was making a difference in someone's experience, was rewarding. But I wondered if I was being irresponsible to consider such a change. How would it affect my young son? I also had to consider the fact that as a single mom, the difference in my income would be great if I left my job.

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