Week 11 Storytelling: The Girl Who Proved Them Wrong

One day as Tara was sitting outside on a hot summer day, she began to think about her future. She didn't actually know what she wanted to do with her life, but she knew she didn't want to live in Oklahoma her whole life. She knew that for sure.

Over the next couple days, Tara began to think about what she really wanted to do in her life. Her mom and dad always told Tara how great her writing skills were. Tara loved writing, but she didn't feel like that was something she wanted to do her whole life. She wanted to do something different---become a nurse. And that's when it hit her.

Tara rushed downstairs and saw her mom and her brothers sitting at the kitchen table.

"Guys, I've figured out what I want to do with my life! I want to become a nurse!" Tara exclaimed as she looked at her family members. Her brothers busted out laughing.

"You can't be serious! Tara, you're so afraid of needles and blood that you faint when you see either one of them!" Derek, Tara's younger brother, said as he laughed.

"At the sight of my own blood or when someone is giving me a shot! That's different!" Tara almost yelled.

She looked at her mom for reassurance, but she was looking the other way.

"I can't believe you all. One day I'll prove all of you wrong and then you'll be sorry for what you said!" Tara yelled as she stomped up the stairs and ran to her room.

Over the next few days, Tara moved out of her parent's house without their permission. She was eighteen years old and she could do what she wanted. Tara moved in with her friend Emily and began to search for good medical schools. As Tara was researching universities, the University of Wisconsin caught her eye. She quickly filled out the application and waited a couple months to hear from them. And sure enough, she got accepted.

("Bascom Hall on the UW Madison campus in Madison, WI". Source: Flickr)

Tara packed up her bags and left for Wisconsin. She was leaving everything she knew behind in Oklahoma, but she felt like this was going to be good. Over the next four years, Tara was making As in all of her classes and was recruited to be a heart nurse at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota following graduation. She quickly moved up in the ranks and was given a head nurse position. How well Tara took care of patients over the years was admired by many of her coworkers.

One day after a long shift at the clinic, Tara received a letter from her family back home. They had heard that she received the head nurse position at the clinic and wanted to congratulate her. Tara hadn't talked to them in years. Tara smirked when she read the end of the letter. She wondered if she should reply to them or not. She thought back to the day she told her family she wanted to be a nurse and they all laughed at her.

"You can do anything you set your mind to do," Tara thought.

Author's Note: This story is based off of The Drawing of the Sword from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang (1902). In The Drawing of the Sword, everyone in England was told that if they were able to draw the sword from the stone that they would become the King of England. Many men tried but were unable to do so. One day, Arthur was told by his father, Sir Kay, to find his sword that he had dropped. Arthur couldn't find it, but he saw the sword in the stone. Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone with such ease and brought it to his father. All of the men were in shock that a little boy could have pulled the sword out of the stone when all of them couldn't. Even though the men were in complete shock, they watched Arthur pull the sword out of the stone again. Still in shock after watching him pull the sword out of the stone themselves, they made Arthur the King of England. This relates to my story because Tara's family doubted her that she would become a nurse and she ended up proving them wrong in the end!