Glad to be a Nurse

I wound down and now I'm winding back up, working, working, lots of interesting "cases" to be a part of solving. I could talk about them if confidentiality weren't the main issue, but be assured, people's secrets are safe with me. I have learned to forget them as soon as I hear them!

The Flip Side of Adversity per Horace

This is a quotation I learned from a patient tonight.

"Adversity has the effect of eliciting talents, which in prosperous circumstances would have been dormant.
Adversity reveals genius, prosperity conceals it."

Horace

On her 87th

My mother loved her birthday. Her personality was too fanciful to narrow the celebration down to the actual day, January ninth, so she stretched it to last the whole month. She liked to get gifts, "personal" ones, clothes mostly though candies and art supplies were also welcomed, and then she would give lavish thank yous while holding the gift closely to her thin chest. But I don't think I ever thanked her enough for what she gave me, sometimes it takes a lifetime to even know, but for these gifts, I remember.

Thanks Mother for loving me. Your love was the steely strength I felt when I was going through hard times.

Thank you for teaching me the basics of cooking. You could have written a kitchen primer, though for that one thing you would not have given yourself credit.

Thanks for teaching me to see the beauty in people no matter their circumstances, and well...just beauty in general.

Thank you for sharing your passions with me, so that I would know that the world is full of passion.

Thank you for being there when I got home from school and for making me pay for a taxi to get to school on that umpteenth day I overslept.

Thanks for giving me freedom and for trusting me to do the right thing. I did.

Thank you for teaching me about music and song and for singing with me in the car and dancing with me all around the house.

Thanks for your openness and for sharing what it is like to really live and feel and grow and age. Because of you I am not shocked by my new white whiskers.

Thanks for teaching me the ability to laugh at myself. You, in your sophisticated high-cheeked beauty would proclaim, "My eyes look like two burned holes in a blanket," and we would laugh.

You Mother were always the funniest, and if I wanted to stop a bad feeling, I always knew I could call and we would end up in hysterics. And I would feel so much better.

I wish I had told you sooner.

Where have all the bugs gone?

Not one snowflake has fallen and I suspect we have not seen the coldest part of our winter here. When I lived in Columbia, a hotter climate often besmitten by gnats and other undesirable insects, we used to love it when the temperature was below freezing for a few days. "That'll help kill the bugs," we all agreed. But a hundred miles to the west, we don't have to be that thrilled with cold unless you're a kid and school lets let out for snow. But I still like bugs in general, just about all of them but roaches, flies, and that nasty old "palmetto bug" that can't outrun or outsmart my cats in wintertime. Still I wonder where are they now? I suppose they all have their different habitats and life spans, but if I wanted to do a bug portrait today, I would be hard pressed to find one of any kind. Maybe that is a good thing.

The Best Month

This is the January I have been longing for.

On Monday night all the conditions came together for a perfect night's sleep. Warm cocoa at bedtime, the new memory foam mattress topper, weather. . . When I woke up Tuesday morning, I checked the clock and was amazed. I had not slept eight hours through in years! The sun had also slept in, and in its place a dreary but restful gray was all around. The tepid temperature had cancelled out the sometimes intrusive on and off hum of the furnace, but the clincher was the steady sound of rain that by the big puddle in the back yard appeared to have remained unchanged all night. After getting up and tending to my faithful pets, I settled back down under the covers and soon entered another sleep and a dream in which I knew I was supposed to be at work but couldn't get there because I was sleeping. I did eventually force myself up from the mighty January Sleep-In and arrived in time for my 3 pm shift. There I learned it was not just I who slumbered well. My co-workers had similar wonderful experiences that night and morning.

Last night was another good one, but the house did some creaking and groaning against the forceful winds as if an unwelcome visitor was using my upstairs space. Still it was cozy and sleep fell easily upon me.

Today I had no plans to work. The time was mine alone. Should I stay in and read? Nah...I had done that on Monday and wasn't quite ready to delve into another novel. Since I have been needing a new washer, tired of trying to hold the old Maytag in place during each spin cycle, I decided I had the time to take care of that. Mid-afternoon under the rich pastel sky I headed down Woodruff Road and after some deliberation made a decision. My new front loader will be delivered tomorrow! Washing will be my main activity on Thursday.

I love the way January, at least for me, seems to provide R&R, but also time to catch up on what needs to be done.