Over the Thanksgiving holiday I found myself at the bookstore having a quiet cup of coffee with my fiance, Joseph. Although I love it, it's been a while since I allowed myself the time to wander through aisles of books and just browse for a while. I came across a book I had read, but forgot about, since I tend to loan books to friends (and sometimes never see them again as they make the rounds). "To Die For" by Kathy Braidhill is a true story which details the crimes of Dana Sue Gray, the first female serial killer convicted in the history of Riverside County, California. I read it a few years ago. It is set in Southwest Riverside County, where I live. It was interesting to read a true story that detailed settings in areas with which I am familiar. It seems a little surreal when you are reading about places you have visited or roads you travel daily, knowing that the person (the murderer) being discussed has visited those same places.
Dana Sue Gray was a nurse. She worked in the post-partum unit of a local hospital. To think of someone taking care of post-partum mothers and newborns and then going out and murdering people is hard to grasp. The fact is, she was discharged from her job, presumably for issues with drugs that were missing from the unit, so there was obviously an underlying problem that perhaps caused her to lose her way and her perspective.
Women have intuition. When I meet someone, I generally have a "gut feeling" about them and I instantly know how I feel about them. I pretty much like everyone and can identify their strengths and qualities. When I worked at Inland Valley Regional Medical Center on the OB unit, I enjoyed my job and had many friends who were nurses. One day, I was introduced to a new nurse. I had a reaction like none I've ever had before. I instantly disliked her. I felt guilty about that at the time. Our nurse manager and I discussed it and she wondered why I felt that way because she liked her. I couldn't explain it, but I asked not to be scheduled to work with this nurse and most of the time I wasn't. When it was necessary to work with her, I avoided her. Her name was Dana Sue Gray. Years later, when I would learn what happened, I remembered my feelings about her. Dana and I shared a workplace and even some friends, but I could never bring myself to like her or even to fake it. When I read this book I realized that we, as women, should never question our intuition. It's there for a reason and it didn't fail me.
1 comment:
Wow. I'm a big believer in intuition. I also think people reveal themselves in big and small ways all the time. I think it was Maya Angelou who said, "When someone tells you who they are, listen." So many times, we can talk ourselves out of paying attention to the little cues. Anyway, if you haven't already read it, I think you would be interested in a book called "The Gift of Fear" by Gavin de Becker. It's a fascinating book all about respecting our intuition.
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