They say “to survive nursing you can’t take it home with you”. Any good nurse knows this is completely untrue. We will never be able to unsee the face of the person that was told they have just 3 months left to live. We never forget the moment someone learns their spouse will never recognize them again. We still hear the weeping of a child that learned they lost their parent. We forever see the look of fear in a sexual assault victim’s face. We carry the innocence lost noted on an abused child. We hold onto the moment a parent is told their child is brain dead. You see, to forget these faces makes you not human. But nurses must be the most compassionate of all humans. We must be human to hold that patient’s hand, to hug that crying family member, to sit in silence with the devastated, and to make that victim feel safe again. We don’t just take it home, we forever carry it in our hearts too.