What is a life lived, devoid of pain and suffering? There is no such thing. What varies is the measure in which pain is awarded, how it is awarded and the shape it chooses to take in your life- the presence it inhabits.

A profession in nursing is choosing to sit with pain in its many forms everyday. Physical and emotional pain finds me everyday, wrapped in words- bulging out of weary eyes and crinkled brows. The most recent interaction that stuck with me: a woman who suffered from alopecia in addition to a myriad of health conditions, who recently underwent an excruciating reconstruction of the vessel that guides her through life.