NANCY

Look through the window, outside it is still very dark. It is almost 4:30 in the morning,

Nancy lies on the bed, and her left hand is on an alarm clock, she is getting ready to push

the button down. She is waiting. She wants to stay in her bed another hour or maybe just

10 more minutes. Her mother’s voice arises from her head: “Nancy, Get up. You should

work harder, don’t be scared of sweat, it will help you someday.” Oh, when does this

become a luxury requires? She quested herself.

Nancy is about mid thirties, she is about 5 foot tall, very skinny, with short hair. When

she is smiling her eyes sparkle, everyone who knows her says her eyes can smile too. She

walks fast, speaks fast too. Her clothes are always very tidy, it seems hard to image how

she keeps it that way.

4 years ago, Nancy moved to the U.S. She still remembered the crowd in the airport,

everyone seems so jealous that she has the opportunity to immigrate to the U.S. She is the

only one uncertain about the future. She has a very good job in her hometown, a

comfortable life. She never even thinks about moving out of the town; now she is moving

out of the country. She doesn’t even know how to speak English. She regrets she didn’t

learn English language seriously when she was in school. She felt her hands starting to

sweat; she always does that when she is nervous. “Nancy, work harder, don’t be scared of

sweat, it will help you someday.” That is her mother’s voice. Or maybe mother is another

exception; she felt a little bit uneasy. Her mother was not at the airport with her. That

morning when she left their apartment, her mother didn’t even come to the door way. But

she knows she is behind the curtains, she looks at her all the time. She knows her mother

is worried about her; she has never left her mother, she is so far away. The day before her

departure they had a long conversation. Her mother told her to “Work harder. Don’t be

scared of sweat. It will help you someday.” That is a new tone from her mother, which

surprised her.

Four years later, Nancy understands “Work harder. Don’t be scared of sweat, It will

help you someday” more and more. When she first arrived at U.S, because of her poor

English Language skill, she couldn’t find job base on her past job experience for almost

half year. So she decided to get in a job training program. After some research she chose

nursing assistant training program. When she had finished the training she found a

nursing assistant job at a skilled nursing home. Nursing assistant job is the hardest job on

the planet, everyone says that. Nancy had never experienced that before, she had no idea

what she will face when she first arrives on board. When she first performed peri-care,

she almost threw up; and the resident didn’t allow her do the transfer either, her resident

didn’t trust her because she looks not strong enough. For her, not only the job itself is

very hard, but also her coworkers pick on her. The only reason is that she does not look

like them. Instead of complaining she chose to work hard. She had followed her mother’s

suggestion since then. In fact she is working so hard. And she sweats a lot too. Every

hour, every shift, she sweats. Everyone in her facility knows Nancy is a harder worker,

even the beauty shop lady, says “Nancy is always busy; she is always on the move.” She

had earned her coworkers and her residents respect. Nancy’s facility even lets her train

new employees. She loves her job, her coworkers and her residents too. She even loves

the feeling of the sweat.

Nancy has a very lovely 3 years old boy. Whenever she talk about her son, a mother’s

pride is writing on her face automatically. She loves her son more than anything else in

this world. But working at a skilled nursing home as a nursing assistant; her work day

starts very early. Every day she has to send her son to daycare in the very early morning.

Watching the boy sleep in his car seat breaks her heart. She wishes her son can sleep on

his own bed through the morning. She starts to reconsider the job that she loves, but new

job means new training, and more education. For her son, she makes up her mind; she

needs go back to school once again. She is more confident now than before after these

years of hard work. However, to go back to college is very hard for both Nancy and her

son. But she determines it, and believes hard work and sweat. After a long day working

as a nursing assistant, by the end of the shift, she feels her energy is all gone. Great effort

is needed in order for her to sit in the classroom and concentrate on the lecture, not to

mention the after class’s study and tons of homework. Every night, after she puts her son

back to bed, she sits in front of the desk to study until late of the night. She feels that she

can never get enough sleep. Sleep becomes more and more of a luxury for her. And for

her son that his mother goes to college means to stay at day care longer than before and

whenever his mother is working on her homework, he has to play alone and be very

quiet, that bothers him a lot. But they both manage it well. First she took ESL classes,

now she is taking her college level class. And all the courses Nancy had taken, the

average GPA is A. Her son can even say “Mammy is studying.” She now knew why her

mother says: “Work harder. Don’t be scared of sweat. It will help you someday.” In

college, one of her instructor once quotes Isak Dinesen’s famous quote “The cure for

anything is salt water – sweat, tears, or the sea.” That quote immediately gets her

attention, now it is her favorite. “Sweat” that just describes her, she sweats a lot,

everyday she works and studies, she believes the sweat now. She is working hard toward

her dream.

The alarm finally sounded, it is 4:30am. Nancy put her hand down quickly. She jumps

out of her bed tries to get through her morning routine as fast as she can. After that she tip

toe into her son’s room, she is very gentle when she undresses her son’s pajama. Then

she quickly puts the dress on her son. He’s still asleep. She carries him into the car, and

puts him into the car seat, her son may feel the difference, and began to mumble: “Mom,

its dark, dark”, she quickly buckles the child seat belt on him, kisses on his red cheeks

“You’re right, honey. We will get better, mom promises. Take a rest, now. Please”. She

quickly goes back to her driver seat, starts the engine. “Salt water can cure everything,

sweat, tear…” she mumbles, a smile appears on her face, her eyes sparkle like a bright

star, the car starts to move. It is about 5:30am.