Nurse Anaesthetist: A Short Story

My heart broke, and I let out a boisterous groan as the last string trimmer malfunctioned and the weedwhacker slowly churned to a stop. I had been consumed by my thoughts of planning my senior speech, crafting my life plan of becoming a nurse anesthetist, and figuring out what I wanted to eat for breakfast to notice that I was walking so rapidly that I had outworked the machine. It was a humid Sunday morning, the grass was still wet with morning dew when I had abruptly woken up and tied on my decrepit, battered, newly turned green sneakers. As I began the trek to my neighbor’s house the smell of wet grass prudently wafted into my nose.

With the exception of my dad there is an evident lack of testosterone in the house with just my mom, twin sister, and I. Growing up, in order to fill this void, I would have to adapt to assume the role of the male sibling. Since a young age my father would drag me outside for hours on end to pull weeds, rake leaves, and pick up all the sticks in the yard with the promise of a long-awaited ice cream. All of my friends typically saw these tedious tasks that jobs a brother would …show more content…
Continuing to mow the lawn year after year is my way of challenging gender roles, the idea that women and men alike are predisposed to certain job opportunities, and also because I value working for my spending money. The hour of solitude I receive every Sunday gives me time to think and plan my next endeavors. I became a devoted activist for women empowerment and equality when my infatuation with politics began my Freshmen year of high school. There is not one path that I must follow, I can be a trailer blazer and I am capable of thriving in all realm of roles in society. Women can be successful landscapers, politicians, and firefighters. In my small all-girls catholic school, it has been engraved into my brain that I am able to break any glass ceiling and be purely