Hilary Metz

Hilary Metz was born in Abingdon, VA and raised in Augusta GA, where she graduated from Westside High School. She went to Augusta Tech to become an EMT, and earned a BA in Nursing from the University of South Carolina, Aiken campus. Following a family tradition, she joined the Army, where she served for two years as a nurse during the Iraq War. Hilary returned to Athens in 2009, and became a hospice nurse. She studied to become a Nurse Practitioner at Maryville University of St. Louis and currently works as a Nurse Practitioner for the Cardiac Program at Compassionate Care Hospice in Athens. She also recently started up a local business (Metz Made, LLC) where she designs steampunk lamps and lighting, reclaimed wood and metal tables, and many other custom pieces. Hilary lives in Oglethorpe County with her wife Ashley and their dogs Isabelle, Abby and Dakota.

 

 

What is your favorite part of your job as a cardiac nurse practitioner?

 

Learning about the patients. I love hearing their stories and getting to know them.

 

What is your favorite thing to do in Athens?

 

Going downtown in the summer and just being around without a ton of people around. If I could spend an entire Sunday at The Globe, I would love that!

 

If you could see any band, anywhere, dead or alive, who would you see and where?

 

Miles Davis at my house at sunset, and Ashley and I are the only audience.

 

If you could give advice to your younger self, what would you tell her?

 

Life is chaotic, so don’t try to organize it. Slow down and don’t try to figure everything out, because it’s okay to fail. Falling into someplace is usually where you find you were meant to be all along.

 

Do you have a favorite book, or a book you tend to gift most often?

 

I love to read Walt Whitman’s work. I have this very old book that is a collection of his work that has tape holding the binding together. It looks as though I haven’t taken care of it, but it sure has taken care of me at times.

 

Do you have a favorite movie or do you remember the first movie you saw in a movie theatre?

 

It may not be the first one I saw, but it is the first one that sticks with me and that’s Star Wars. I’m sure that is a cliche answer, but it was such a big part of my life growing up. I had Star Wars figurines; there are probably Star Wars figurines buried still in my childhood backyard (that are probably worth a ton of money now…). It has totally transcended generations too, my nephews love them too!

 

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

 

I would go to France, Italy (and stop at every vineyard and try all the food) and Germany (to explore my heritage)…so I guess that’s my trifecta “place”.

 

What is something interesting about you that most people don’t know?

 

I know how to ballroom dance (waltz, fox trot and I can “sort of” shag). I took classes for 3 years as a teen…and hated every minute of it!

 

If you could have lunch with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be and where?

 

It would be my grandpa on his farm. I want one more day with him. When you grow up and leave those places because you think it is always going to be there, you stop going back because you take it for granted. I want to go back to someone who is familiar to me and take a closer look at what has made me who I am. I want the smell of that house. And, honestly, he was my best friend, and I never got to tell him that and that sucks. I learned so many life lessons from him in his shop…I would love one more evening of “shop talk” sharing a beer and watching the sunset over the corn field.

 

What three words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word “home”?

 

Comfortable, safe, peaceful…it’s a place where you can fart out loud and never have to look around to see who heard it! Too much?

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