Reflections

This weekend my nephew Patrick celebrated his 4th birthday. Today my mind returned to thoughts I'd recorded four years ago on my website (no longer active) and I was reminded of these truths. I thought I'd share them here...along with a photo or so of Patrick and his much-loved younger siblings.

At this point in my life, it’s unlikely I’ll ever know what it means to have a child. This love that has grown for Patrick since Maureen’s call, for this little one I’ve never held (and even now that I have held him), gives me a new understanding for the depth of love my heavenly Father has for me. Patrick’s done nothing to deserve my love for him, just as I have done nothing to deserve my Father’s love. He just is, a representation of a new generation. How God must feel as he looks upon me – and you too – a child he created. It truly is a fathomless love that I am only beginning to understand.

Lessons from my First Week on the Job

I've learned a few key things in my first week on the job:

• I don't have a crew, I have a team/staff
• The SICU and Trauma/SICU aren't on Decks 5 & 6, but on the 5th and 6th Floors.
• That big wall of glass in my office isn't a porthole, it's a window.
• No one uses military time, so I need to use AM/PM again.
• I'm back in the US, so dates are written month/day/year and not day/month/year.
  
• The entrance to my workplace is not a gangway, but the main entrance.
• That person near the entrance is not security, but the valet parking attendant.
  
• Magnets do not hold things on the bulkheads...I mean walls.
• I do not have to use sticky-tack to hold items on shelves. And sail preparation was probably NOT the most likely explanation for all the equipment the staff found on the floor in a storeroom this morning, but it was the first thing I thought of!
  
• No one pages me to tell me that mail is available for pickup. I have to wait until I get home to see if any mail awaits me on the stairs and I have no idea who else might have received a care package this week. Of course, most people don't rely on care packages. If they need something, they go to a store to buy it!
  
• I can't just wander over the the ward or down to post-ops to get a baby fix! Maybe I need to volunteer for that 'baby cuddling' program they mentioned at orientation.
  

On the other hand, some things are no different:

• I need to wear my ID all the time.
• There are still lots of stairs to go up and down.
• I'm still not excited about going to the dining room/cafeteria for dinner. I'd rather cook my own meals.
• I walk about 4 miles/day and am going to have to figure out a way to add that extra mile at the end of the workday.
• My office is just as cold as my office on the ship and I don't think I can control the temp either.
• Patients speak at least as many different languages here as they do on the ship. The difference is that the translator is available via the telephone.
  

Texas??? Not me...

"Are you from Texas?" one of my staff asked me this afternoon. Hmmm...not sure where that one came from. It definitely isn't my accent. I grew up in New England and never managed to acquire the local accent. I've never lived in TX, just visited relatives and the MS office, so I REALLY didn't have a Texas accent. So what could it be?

Ah, the armadillo earrings. I bought them because they remind me of a fun trip with good friends...

After a summer at camp, two friends and I headed to Virginia for a trip that would include 2 days of job interviews/apartment hunting for me and lots of camping the other days. The initial day with an interview and apartment hunting proved to be quite boring. We looked around, I asked all the questions, and my friends just tagged along. That was completely out of character for them. Before we headed out on the second day of apartment hunting, I set out the guidelines. Both of them were to act as though they were the ones searching for an apartment, exploring, asking questions, and making observations.

Kelly took this challenge seriously. She'd heard the questions and typical answers frequently enough to ask them herself, but it was always with a twist. An innocent question about the pet policy (pets under 10# permitted) led to a follow-up question for me: "Jean, how much does your armadillo weigh?" Kelly also determined that the tub capacity was adequate for my tie-dying hobby, while Mandy inspected the closet over the stairwell and established that it offered a satisfactory spot for someone who wanted to assume the thinking position, lying down with her legs extended up the wall. I think she was the one measuring rooms for my loom and attempting thunder-thigh ballet upstairs to make sure sound didn't carry (or maybe that was me). We weren't convinced that my imaginary, 6'6" boyfriend Bart would clear the light fixture in the dining room and unfortunately, he wouldn't be allowed to come visit on his Harley.

The poor woman showing us around seemed a bit flustered, but I'd like to think she caught on to the joke and from time to time tells the story of these crazy women who came one day to look for an apartment...

First Day on the Job...

It felt a bit like field service orientation with Mercy Ships as I started my first day at BIDMC. I couldn't help but be struck by the similarities between Mercy Ships' objective of caring for the poor and the heritage of Beth Israel Deaconess to serve those who had had no access to health care, whether due to discrimination or poverty. The next similarity came when Paul Levy, CEO/President, spoke of being culturally sensitive. Later there was talk of using translators to promote effective communication. Not so different after all!

On the other hand, my commute was longer today that it was on the ship. It took me 25 minutes to walk to work instead of 2.5 to go down a flight of stairs and the length of deck 3. I'm still getting a stair workout since it my office is on the 6th floor. I do have a HUGE porthole...I mean window...in my new office. Dinner means having to actually cook (or heat up leftovers) instead of climbing from deck 3 to deck 5. That's proving to be more of a challenge than I expected. I've gotten lazy!

Michigan State 35 vs. Michigan 21

Favorite memories of a football Saturday in East Lansing: walking along the Red Cedar, leaves crunching underfoot, aroma of woodsmoke drifting through the air, and the music from the Spartan marching band carrying across campus. I know that today's game was at the Big House in Ann Arbor instead of East Lansing, but that made today's victory even sweeter. Way to go, State! Now that I'm stateside again, I hope to be able to get to a game in the next year or two. It's good to see MSU hanging in there and winning in the second half of the season as well as the first.

Autumn in New England

It's always fun to be home this time of year. On Thursday after settling on an apartment in Brookline, MA, I took a break from planning for my move this coming week. Filled the car with gas and emptied the memory card, loaded lenses and filters into my lumbar pack, and headed to the mountains. I was too lazy to plan a hike, so I just drove along scenic routes and took photos. After the drizzle stopped and the clouds cleared, it was a gorgeous, warm autumn day.

Today we went to Maine to visit Bryan's family. I had a great time playing with Patrick and Libby. We spent substantial time playing hide & seek outdoors since the weather was gorgeous. When it was Patrick's turn to hide, I was surprised to discover that Libby could count to 13 (tho' she then jumped to 16 and 19...). I've included a few photos of them hiding behind a tree, Libby counting, Patrick sliding, and a couple from my trip to the mountains.

Camping out...or not...

This was the weekend I planned to introduce my niece and nephew to the joys of camping. I piled the tent, 4 sleeping bags, large air mattress, and multiple flashlights into the car for the journey to Maine. Their mom made sure the ingredients for s'mores were in the house.

Yesterday afternoon when we arrived at the house, Patrick and Libby helped me pitch the tent, blow up the air mattress, and unroll the sleeping bags. They started practicing making shadows before it was really dark. Patrick could hardly wait for it to get dark, but we did decide we'd eat supper first.

When darkness fell, Grandpa cut branches for roasting the marshmallows on the grill...but then Patrick informed us that THAT wasn't how the instruction book said to roast marshmallows. Off he dashed to retrieve Just Me and My Dad by Mercer Mayer. "See, THAT'S how you cook marshmallows," he corrected me, pointing to the picture of a log-cabin style campfire. Eventually he conceded to using the grill and enjoyed his s'more, though he never asked for more. Libby didn't like hers at all.

We all donned our warmest pajamas and then moved out to the tent where we made shadows, read Just Me and My Dad, told original stories, sang Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, turned out the flashlights and tried to go to sleep. The quiet lasted 5 minutes before Patrick broke it with cries of "I want Mommy." No reasoning with him, no consoling him, so in we went. His dad's response? "I gave you until 9 pm." It was 8:50. Guess we'll try for longer another day. Still it was fun. I plan to do some real camping later this week in the White Mountains.