I consider nursing to be my top accomplishment. Some years ago I lost a dear friend to AIDS. I watched the medical community treat him without compassion, and from that time I felt drawn to work with the terminally ill. I was drawn because it is one of our vows. It is very right for a Sister of Mercy to be at the bedside of a dying patient. I think Catherine McAuley would be very pleased with this ministry.

As a hospice nurse, I coordinate the hospice team at the medical center, and I derive a profound sense of satisfaction from my work. What I tell my patients is that I get to walk on holy ground every day. I touch peoples' lives. I help make their ending days more peaceful, lessen their suffering, and help families through the grief process. I am fortunate to work with a great team of professionals, an interdisciplinary group that includes a chaplain.

The downside is that every hello implies a goodbye. The goal of hospice is a peaceful death. Because of that, I deal with repetitive grief. But that's OK because it has given me a sense of what living is all about. You cannot do this work and not know that there is a power greater than yourself. Hospice nursing gives me a sense of reality and how to treat the small stuff. I have a sense of our eternity, but at the same time I know I must live in this moment because it's the only moment we have.

My first degree was in social work. Then I graduated with honors in nursing from Seton Hall and obviously it has changed my life. I am very much a believer and practitioner of wholistic medicine. I am a reiki master and a tai chi instructor, and these two accomplish- ments have enabled me to expand my own ministry beyond the dying.

What I truly value about my life of Mercy is the sense of community, shared mission, and service that we have. The joy of living that I saw in the Sisters more than two decades ago as someone considering religious life is truly a part of my life. My motto, which is taken from the Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Neibuhr, sums it up for me.