Dear nurses,

Sometimes we wonder if you know how amazing you are. You work incredibly long hours. Not only do you put up with patients who are rude to you, you still put in the effort to take care of them because that's what you love to do.

You are the heart of the hospital. You are our advocates when something is happening that shouldn't be. You go above and beyond to keep us at ease. You barely have time to eat your own lunch, but make sure that we get ours. Your feet are hurting and you’re tired, yet the most important thing to you is to make sure we’re the most comfortable we can be despite the circumstances. You are not only our caretakers, you are our friend. In a cold, scary hospital room, you are the warmth and the light.

You are kind to the elderly who won't stay in their bed even though you keep telling them not to get up. You are kind to the kids who won't stop crying. You are even kind to the patient who soils you in their bodily fluids. Patients may yell at you, treat you like a maid at a hotel, and expect you to know the answers to everything, but you still keep a brave face. You are some of the most fearless people we’ve met.

You work such a long shift, sometimes even a double, and we look at you and wonder how you're still on your feet. You might be working all night and come 6 AM, you still come wake us up with a smile. You likely see heartbreak on a daily basis, yet you stay strong for us. You are a huge part of the reason we have the courage to keep fighting whatever we are fighting. Without you, we'd be lost.

It takes the most special type of person to be a nurse. Thank you for being there for us during some of our hardest times. They are a little bit easier to get through because of you.