A Thousand Miles From The Place I Was Born

Life has been crazy lately.  Crazier than crazy, to be honest.  In the past week, all of the following things have happened:

1.  My Mom was discharged from the hospital after a week of testing and painful procedures.  That would seem like good news, but what it actually means is that she is now at home with no one to take care of her, and because I live across the country from her, that unnerves me quite a bit.

2.  I developed yet another sinus infection.  The fifth one this year.  The billionth one in my lifetime.  They are coming with such frequency now that I can see yet another sinus surgery in my near future.

3.  Saturday, I watched a dear patient of mine die.  It seems dramatic, I know, but it really was just part of the job.  However, although I have processed the event emotionally, I haven’t been able to shake the memory of the raw desperation and grief that I witnessed from the parents as their child died.  It was undoubtedly one of the most heartwrenching things I have ever seen.

4.  My two dogs, Baxter and Sam, escaped Saturday morning as I let them out before work.  It turns out that the gate in my fenced yard had been left open, presumably by the evil neighborhood boys who invade my backyard when I am at work.  Needless to say, I couldn’t find the dogs before I had to leave for work, and I spent the morning worrying myself sick about them.  My neighbor found them and attempted to return them to my house, but accidentally set off my burglar alarm in the process.  The long and short of it is that the dogs are fine and I now know that Brinks can and will contact the police in the event of an alarm.

5.  I had my yearly evaluation at work and for the first time in any job, ever, I received a 100% glowing report.  Usually they are mostly good with a little constructive criticism thrown in.  Not this year.  It was entirely full of praise and admiration for the job that I am doing.  I was surprised and frankly, a little disappointed.  I mean, yes, it’s great that my bosses appreciate me and that I will be eligible for a nice raise this year.  But how can I continue to hold the title of Resident Smart Ass when I get evaluations like this??  Seriously, people!

6.  My two worlds collided when my colleagues at work (hi, everybody!!) discovered my blog.  Well, a few knew about it earlier, but they had been discreet and it was still largely unknown to my co-workers.  And then my dear friend Kim (who is now giggling because she has been mentioned on the Internets) spent the better part of her last shift reading my blog in its entirety.  The day after that, I found my blog up on not one, not two, but THREE different computers at work.  I have been outed.

7.  The “G” key on my laptop keyboard was sticky, probably from Lauren’s perpetually sticky fingers.  I decided to clean it, and in the process, pulled the damn “G” key completely off.  In it’s place, I now have (you guessed it), a “G” spot.  In this spot is a little “G” button that I have to carefully press whenever I desire a “G”.  It’s all very hot, believe me.  And now I will get all sorts of undesirable traffic to my blog.

So as you can see, the last four days have been relatively jam-packed.  Good times, good times.  I am looking forward to having a few days at home to recover, recoup and reorganize.  Specifically, I really need to tackle this desk:

Oh dear baby Jesus, please give me the strength and patience to get through that pile.  Amen.