IHOP Girl: Life Upside Down

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Life Upside Down

Hmmm, I don't think that my body knows what side is up; I'm hungry at all the wrong times, but otherwise I am finding that staying up all night and sleeping through the morning and early afternoon is quite easy actually. I suppose the hardest part is feeling disconnected from people seeing as I can't really call anyone during the night, and most people are not game for a social event at 3 in the morning. However, I LOVE working nights. It is busy and crazy at times, but the amount of people (ie doctors, family, misc hospital staff) is limited so my patient care is so much more focused. It is fabulous! The girls I work with are outstanding, fun, and over all we have a great time. How funny to think that this was not the most appealing job offer I got, nor is it the greatest hospital ever, but I don't think I could love my job more; and that speaks to me louder than any pay check that I am in the right spot for now. Who knows where we'll go or what we'll do, but imagine the great big world out there!!!! God created so much, and we're in control of so little - why not get out there and see what inspires you ;-) you might be suprised. Take my advise - if its your time to die there is no way to stop it, so be wise, but seize the moment, do something spontaniously, push the edge and see where it takes you! At 5:30 am I am not sure that whatever I just wrote makes any sense haha, but cheers anyway! I'm off to watch a movie and read a book before some sleep ;-). Happy commenting.

1 comment:

sfl said...: Hey Glad to hear you're liking the night shift and see it's purpose for your life right now. It can be nice to work all night and have the days to play in. Usually it's quiet during the day, shops are less congested, etc. If you weren't such a people person, like me, you wouldn't care since I don't have friends to deal with (except for my sole friend, Datamite of course!). So I'm envious.

Love you and looking forward to seeing you soon.

-sfl; 11:33 AM

Movie Night In...I love a good movie!

Mega Mind
Taking Chance (Will make you cry like a baby)
Charlotte Grey (A bit of a different take on Nazi Germany)
Series - Merlin (I LOVE BBC)
Robin Hood (Okay, a love Russell Crowe, you'll have to understand that about me...)
Kingdom of Heaven (Chuck full of acting power with an epic tale)
Miss Potter (Such a great film! Story of the creator of Peter Rabbit)
How to Train your Dragon (Possibly my favorite animated movie ever...I'm like a little kid, I watch it over and over)
Buck (Sundance winner, Biography of Horse Trainer, heart touching)
Lost in Austin (Modern day spin on Pride and Prej.)

Life as a nurse...

Great words by Reb Jeff: Vayishlach: Facing Death

"Rachel died. She was buried on the road to Ephrat — now called Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar above her grave. It is the pillar at Rachel’s grave to this day."–Genesis 35:19-20

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vidui http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiva_(Judaism), and preparing the notifications to the community, feel like little fragments of the sacred. I have been entrusted with the care and tending of the most powerful, complex and difficult emotions that a person can experience in life. I have been made, in some small part, a guardian of the memory of a departed soul — a life that touches upon many other lives.After dropping off my older daughter at her high school this morning, I made a stop at Treasure Coast Hospice http://www.tchospice.org/, a remarkable organization that sets a very high standard for the loving and respectful care of the dying. There, I visited a lovely man whom I have seen a few times in his hospice room. I sat by his bedside and listened to him (in full possession of his faculties) as he told me about his worries about his family, the support of his wife after he is gone, and the future of his children and grandchildren. I was deeply moved by the way he put any concern for himself — even while facing death — in a distant backseat to his concerns for his family. When my own time comes, I can only hope to have his awareness of the way that one life can touch so many others.Also at hospice, I visited a woman I have known for the past two years — a dear soul who is a former Jewish religious school director. I sat with her, too, singing psalms to her as I listened to her heavy and labored breathing. I have no medical training, but I have come to know the sound of a person who is close to death. The body begins to fight for each breath as it slowly looses it grasp on life. As I held her hand and sang, I realized that being a rabbi is no protection against becoming one of the people caught in the web of connection. I, too, am changed by the loss of a life that has touched mine.Later in the day, I met with a couple from our congregation. She had just learned that her brother died yesterday in a car crash. Coming to terms with the loss is made more difficult for her by the fact that she and her brother had not seen each other or spoken in five years. Sometimes, people think it is easier to mourn the death of someone who has moved out of your life. In my experience, though, it's harder. Grief is magnified by wounded love and regret. I have no magic words to say to ease the pain of mourning. All I can do is listen, become a vessel in which people place their stories, and offer compassion.Actually, there is one more thing I can do. I can have faith that "all I can do" is all that I need to do. It is enough.In this week's Torah portion (Vayishlach) Jacob watched Rachel, the love of his life, die in childbirth. He was overcome by grief. Jacob had worked for his cruel uncle Laban for fourteen years to earn the right to marry Rachel. Now she was gone. Because she died while they were traveling, Jacob had to bury her by the side of the road. He built a pillar of stones on the spot to mark the place as sacred.This is what we all do, in one way or another, when death enters our lives. We grieve and our hearts break. We wish that we could continue to walk along the path of life with our loved ones forever, but the dead cannot fully join us. We have to leave something behind in order to resume our own journey. So, what do we do? We mark the moment as sacred. We erect monuments — both in cemeteries and in our hearts. The stones we place on top of stones remind us that a life may end, but its sanctity is forever.The Torah says that the monument Jacob built for his beloved continues to stand until this day. A life that touches the lives of others never ceases to send living reverberations throughout the web that binds us all.