Bobby lives in Gardendale, Alabama with his wife, Rayena, and their young son. Rayena is not only a dedicated mom, she’s also a trauma nurse. And in the eyes of her husband, she’s a hero.
Recently, Bobby shared a touching open letter about his wife that he posted on Facebook, and that letter is now going viral with over half a million likes. His post begins with a photo of his wife taking a quick nap before she has to head out on a shift. Her arms are wrapped around their son.
Here’s what he wrote:
“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.”
Bobby’s letter is like a beautiful mixture of a love note and awestruck tribute to his wife’s dedication to helping others.
“Those of you that know my wife know that she flinches at the word hero,” he wrote in a follow up after his post went viral. “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.”
Bobby has such tremendous pride and love for his wife. The respect he shows for her is something we can all aspire to with our loved ones. Please share Bobby’s moving letter with your friends and family and the nurse heroes you know!
