This article provides a brief history of the APRN role and the advancement from a CRNA, to midwives, then to FNPs. The focus is the family nurse practitioner role. The author shows the connection with Erik Ericsson's stages of development and provides examples of how the role of the NP progressed through those stages. Examples are also provided from a world development perspective, as each country has also had to move through the same phases of development before moving on to the next. The author concludes that we (the U.S.) are still in the final stage of development (Integrity-older adult).