Writing Resources from Fifteen Minutes of Fiction

A Newbie Moment

(Written 6-8 months ago)

Oh the adventure of being new to something! I have so many 'ah-ha!' moments as I figure out this whole interpreting career - even now, almost a year after interpreting for the first time, I'm learning new things every day, understanding things a little better with every appointment.

My latest self-chuckle was a pretty typical, human reaction I think...I'd just stepped off the labor and delivery ward, leaving my patient heavily contracting but not anywhere near having her baby yet. Heading back to the office for a quick break, I found myself in step behind one of the many nurses always out and about in a hospital of any size. Her pale, rosy pink scrub caught my eye, and I noticed she was carrying one of those Styrofoam containers from our cafeteria. My instant reaction was, Oh my gosh - how can she eat at a time like this when we're about to have a baby?! And then I almost laughed aloud as I realized A) I didn't even know if she was an OB nurse, B) of course she wouldn't know anything about my patient, and C) even if she did, that was her career, delivering babies! And even as exciting as that was, she still definitely needed her lunch.

A time like this...times like this happen every day. According to statistics, there are 4.2 babies born every second, 250 babies born every minute and 15,008 babies born every hour. And I expected the whole world to hold its breath while my patient experienced the miracle of birth. I realized how narrow our personal view of the world is, but I also realized something wonderful. Every person in that patient's room with me was dedicated to this patient, this baby, this moment. We all focused all our energies on bringing this child into the world, and so truly, for us, she WAS the only person for the moment. Nothing else mattered.

She delivered without me because by then my world had shifted - I had another patient in another part of the hospital to be engrossed in, and she had another interpreter. But I smiled, knowing the detailed attention she was getting, and when I think that this kind of engrossment happens every day, that millions of doctors, nurses, receptionists, staff and interpreters like myself spend their days in MOMENTS dedicated to others, I still smile.

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