Why This Photo of a Trauma Nurse Napping With Her Son Has 850,000 Likes on Facebook
This is my wife taking a nap. In an hour she will wake up, put on her scrubs and get ready for work. The tools and...
Posted by Bobby Wesson on Saturday, November 7, 2015
An afternoon nap doesn't make for the most profound of Facebook status updates, but when one man decided to snap a pic of his wife, an Alabama trauma nurse, snoozing with their toddler son, he couldn't have imagined it would get close to 850,000 likes and be shared more than 190,000 times.
Likely by the time Rayena Wesson woke up from her nap, however, Bobby's post became a touching tribute to not just a wife and mother but to all those in the medical community who've saved even one life:
"This is my wife taking a nap. In an hour she will wake up, put on her scrubs and get ready for work.
The tools and items she needs to perform her job will be gathered and checked meticulously - her hair and makeup will be done quickly. She will complain that she looks awful. I will disagree, emphatically, and get her a cup of coffee.
She will sit on the couch with her legs crossed under her and try to drink it while happily playing with the toddler that's crawling all over her.
She will occasionally stare off blankly as we talk; silently steeling herself for the coming shift. She thinks I don't notice.
She will kiss the baby, she will kiss me and she will leave to go take care of people that are having the worst day of their entire lives. Car wrecks, gunshot wounds, explosions, burns and breaks - professionals, poor, pastors, addicts and prostitutes - mothers, fathers, sons, daughters and families - it doesn't matter who you are or what happened to you.
She will take care of you.
She will come home 14 hours later and remove shoes that have walked through blood, bile, tears and fire from aching feet and leave them outside.
Sometimes she will not want to talk about it. Sometimes she can't wait to talk about it.
Sometimes she will laugh until she cries and sometimes she will just cry - but regardless of those sometimes she will be on time for her next shift.My wife is a nurse. My wife is a hero."
Since the post went viral last year, both Bobby and Rayena have expressed profound appreciation for every kind word sent their way.
"My wife and I have been humbled by all of the stories that nurses, medical professionals, patients, first responders and people across the globe have shared with us," Bobby, who reposted the original message on Friday in honor of Nurses Week, wrote in a separate Facebook post. "Those of you that know my wife know that she flinches at the word hero. She doesn't miss an opportunity to say that she is a small part of a very large team — but she is a large part of my very small team and I'm proud of her."