It was hard to say farewell to my work family at the Baptist Medical Center Jacksonville Adult Emergency Department. I can’t be in two places at once, so I had to tear myself away to get ready for deployment. I must have torn a piece of my heart in the process because I’ve been grieving ever since. I know I have attachment issues, but these people have really made me at home and I will miss them.

I tried to make everyone I worked alongside feel a part of something bigger. We worked hard but had fun in the process. Many mornings when 6 o’clock came around, I broadcast “The Final Countdown” on our radio badge system to signal the nearing end of our 7 to 7 shift. I did it so much it became our closing theme. Thursday morning after my last shift, while we were gathered at a popular after-work hangout, that song by Europe played overhead, as if to close out a perfect farewell.