Perspective...

I made a home visit the other day to see a sweet male patient who is about seventy-five.  When I removed my hearing aids to put the stethoscope in my ears, he commented that I was awfully young to be wearing hearing aids.  I smiled and asked him how old he thought I was.  He lookied intently at my face for a few seconds then answered, "Oh about forty-eight."  Thanking him for the compliment, I told him I am sixty-one.  His reply: "You're damn near as old as I am!"

First Week of Work...

Finished my first week of work.  It's a long drive - sixty-eight miles from my house and fifty miles from Jack's - each way.  Then on the road throughout the day seeing patients.  Right now I'm riding with one of the nurses...Billie Jo.  She's showing me the ropes and we are getting along well.  I like spending the days with her.  It's a tiny office with very few people and no computers - I'm having to learn paper charting all over again!

After a year of leisure, getting up and going each day is exhausting but I'm sure I will get used to it.  I  do miss my free time but I like being able to use my skills again.  I am also enjoying the fact that I can spend lots of time at Jack's.  That's a real bonus.  Think going back with a thirteen week contract was a good move.  I have an end point to look forward to....a vacation.

One week down, twelve to go... 

A Birthday Gift...

Got a call from a recruiter last week - on my birthday as a matter of fact - she found my resume online.  After a flurry of phone calls and faxes and with a little help from my friends, everything started to fall into place and I start work tomorrow!

I have a thirteen week contract doing home health nursing in a small town about seventy miles from home (but only fifty miles from that new man in my life).  I'm a bit nervous as I haven't worked in over a year, but excited too.  Hope it all comes back to me!

Birthday Thoughts...

Another birthday has just rolled around.  They seem to be coming more often now.  I don't look forward to them like I did as a kid, but I think I appreciate them more.  I remember when I couldn't wait to get older.  I wanted to be twelve or thirteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty-one.  There was always an age to aspire to.  Now, I'm in no such hurry to get older.  Older is what my parents were - not me!

Sixty -one has always sounded older to me.  Grey hair cut short, a grey Oldsmobile, sensible shoes, conservative values and a touch of dismay over the younger generation.  But that's not me.  I keep my hair dark and shoulder length...with just a splash of silver bangs and have never driven an Oldsmobile of any color.  My values, far from conservative, include choice, gay marriage and tolerance and I envy the younger generation in some ways.  I do wear sensible shoes though - no fun having ones feet hurt!  So what does sixty-one really look like?

This time last year I was in Spain.  Took a marvelous ten day trip with my then boyfriend.  My first across an ocean.  We explored Spain and took a quick hop to Africa, spending a day in Tangier, Morocco.  It was fun, exciting and exhilerating; I revelled in the different cultures and turning sixty slipped by almost unnoticed - which was my plan!

This year there was no milestone, just a simple transition from sixty to sixty-one.  Rather than jumping continents, I traveled only a few counties away and celebrated with the new man in my life.  We had a lovely dinner out and watched a classic - Gone With the Wind.  I hope to spend my next birthday with him too.