Turns out my Valentine's Day had a different focus of my heart.

As I tied up loose ends at work yesterday after our Fish Philosophy workshop, one task was to check and answer voicemail.

7 but most were routine. One was from the cardiac cath lab saying I had a friend down there who was being admitted to CCU and his wife needed me. He is only 33 and I immediately forgot my fatigue and hurried down to check on him all the while examining in my mind what his condition might be.

Turns out at 33 his heart began basically stopping....yep, stopping for 20-30 seconds at a time. Thankfully we have pacemaker pads that will pace the heart through the skin of the chest so he was revived....twice. He will get his permanent pacemaker on Monday and will resume most activities in a week and sports in a month.

So here I was sitting at the bedside of this friend, his wife and mother in law. I could see the anxiety and fear on her face and in his jovial attitude but too high for rest heart rate.

She had not showered eaten or slept since their arrival by EMS at 0400. They were over their heads in a world they did not expect to visit for another 20-30 years.

And I could help...I could take the time, teach them about the electrophysiology of the heart (amazing), his arrhythmia, pacemakers and even relate to a wife's fears for her husband and his for his present and future. I could ask the right questions when the MD came by at the end of his day.

I could turn to his wife and say, I will stay by his side while you go shower and run errands knowing there must be trust in her being able to leave him.

I could trust my husband and family to instantly defer our plans til later to make a difference in a person's life.

I could settle him in the CCU, run down to the giftshop to get roses for his wife's Valentine's Day, a teddy bear for him and chocolates for the nurses. Just to add a lighter tone to a way too serious Valentine's Day.

I could participate in the most intimate of Valentine's Day gifts....the gift of life, the beat of a heart.

Sometimes, you just know why God put you in this world. I have been blessed in this way for 21 years.

You see I am a Nurse and we make a big difference.