As the minutes ticked closer to surgery and the stretcher was moments from leaving the bay towards the OR, I apparently couldn’t hold my emotions in any longer. The IVs were in place and charting was finished but the last member of my team that morning had just made her way over and introduced herself as Pam an OR nurse “…but you can call me Momma Bear” she continues on asking how I’m doing today. That introduction was definitely the detonator for my teary explosion. There was no way she could have known but because of my last name, many people throughout my entire life have called me “Cubby” - more so than my actual name. On a day where all I wanted was MY Momma Bear, this nurse’s introduction was met with all my composure flying right out the window. As she saw the tears start trickling down my face and - as I quickly apologized for getting emotional starting to explain that I had just lost my mom to Ovarian Cancer this past year - she held my hand and hugged my head and said some comforting words that only a special person like this could have known to say. She allowed me my moment to feel childish and scared and confidently took the reins from me at the moment I needed to let go of them. Our interaction all happened within minutes and before I knew it I was being wheeled into the OR with “Momma Bear” right by my side.