Steppesister
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- Dec 27, 2013
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The ABC’s of a BSN Celebration!
A is for: Anxious to GO!!!
My tradition in Trip Reporting is to post a few chapters of Pre-trip stuff prior to my departure to get the stage set for actual Trip Reporting right out of the gate when I return. So here are the introductions and backstory to get us up to speed. This chapter is rather dry; I promise my writing CAN be better than this and I realize this material may be a bit on the boring side. Nevertheless, for those of you who care to join, both new and longtime friends, WELCOME!!!
A is for: Anxious to GO!!!
My tradition in Trip Reporting is to post a few chapters of Pre-trip stuff prior to my departure to get the stage set for actual Trip Reporting right out of the gate when I return. So here are the introductions and backstory to get us up to speed. This chapter is rather dry; I promise my writing CAN be better than this and I realize this material may be a bit on the boring side. Nevertheless, for those of you who care to join, both new and longtime friends, WELCOME!!!
This year has been rough. By now, that’s fairly cliché, but then again, most of my TR’s are filled with such drivel.
So let’s not begin with such dreary material, shall we? Instead, let’s say it’s been a year of amazing progress and change in my life. Not all has been happy, but all has been rewarding. I have not been to Disney in over a year now. For a multitude of reasons, it just wasn’t possible or wise. So let me, Dear Reader, fill in the gaps with the good, the bad, and the ugly of the last many months- take it or leave it, this is what I’ve got.
For those of you who are new to my ABC’s of Trip Reporting, let me quickly introduce myself. (For those of you who have been around a while, skip this.) My name is Liesa, mom to 5 amazing “kids”- 2 boys and 3 girls. Most are grown and out of the house. I have 3 beautiful grandkiddlies who are the apples of my eye. Well, eyes, I suppose. I do have more than. And there it is, the eyes have it.
Only one grandbaby lives nearby and I get to see him fairly regularly, but not often enough. While single and working a lot as Recovery Room Nurse, I do try to stay busy with things. Sadly, this year many of my hobbies have suffered due to a bit of the same depression and malaise many of you may have as well. Travel, my true love, has all but disappeared and without something to plan or write about, it’s been… hard. I enjoy photography, board games, Disney (obviously), writing, and friends and family.
The trip to Disney last Fall with the kids was meant to be a time of healing and re-connection after my marriage ended. It served us well to be together and I am grateful that since then each of us has found ways to reconcile and time together has been less awkward.
Then the Holidays came… we had to find new traditions and learn to share our time. I think we succeeded despite my having had neck surgery on Dec. 16th. I was a fool and insisted on hosting 13 people in my tiny 2-bedroom apartment on Dec. 21st. It set my recovery back weeks , if not months, and can say that while the first month or two was VERY rough, I survived. I was off work for 6 weeks and probably should have been off more. Having said that, while far from perfect, I am glad I’m not where I was pain-wise during those first weeks. While in the midst I was worried that my new life might be one as an invalid. I powered through it and conquered.
Just as I was through that horrific recovery, Covid struck. There was worry, angst, anger, grief, and mourning. But I seized the day, so to speak, and made hay while the sun shone. Our surgical center closed for 2 months and all elective surgeries were cancelled or postponed at my 2nd job at the hospital as well. Our company (the surgical center where I work 35 or so hours a week) was very generous and paid us 66% of our average weekly hours, and the hospital made accommodations and gave those of us in the same-day surgery area opportunities to orient to other departments. So, I spent long, LONG hours there orienting the Senior Behavioral Unit where I helped manage and assist with mentally ill seniors. <No, Sally, you need to keep your top on during dinner; Please, George, you shouldn’t put food in your pockets.”> I also picked up shifts often 12AM-8AM or 4AM-2PM screening folks as the front doors. And to top it off, I picked up a TON of 1:1 shifts keeping eyes on patients in the ED who were suicidal or whatnot. Many of those were nights. AND on top of that, I was picking up every Call Shift in the Recovery Room I could. My job was uncertain, my financial situation was tenuous, and I was scared. So, I chose to fix that, and did. Opportunity knocked, I welcomed it in.
While in the midst of that, the seeds of deciding to re-locate were sown. But, I knew I needed to prepare professionally in order to set myself up for the best job oppotunities. Why else would someone working as much as this begin a degree program?! But I did, and can now proudly say I can add BSN behind my name. I can also say that I actually enjoyed the classes for the most part. Biochem and stats were not bad at all, and while the classes that required paper writing were tedious and time-consuming, I breezed through in 4 months. Opportunity knocked, I embraced it.
As I said, the seeds of relocation were planted and I will be moving to Bowling Green, Kentucky by next Christmas. The Oregon weather has never been my friend; the gray and rainy days are depressing and while I’d rather leave politics aside, Oregon is not going the direction I’d like. Buh-bye!! My oldest “kids” have told me they are also planning to get out of Dodge and have their eyes on Texas, while my youngest is working on her TOEFL (Teaching English as a Second Language) Certificate and wants to head overseas when she’s done. Given all of that, it makes me feel a WHOLE lot better about buying half the value of my parents’ home and moving in with them. That way, as they age, I can be nearer and involved as I’ve not been able to since leaving home in 1985. It’s the right thing to do. I’ll also be nearer to my sisters (one in BG and the other in Virginia) and can always fly to see my kids and grandkids. During my Covid-workaholic mode I’ve been able to save quite a bit of my income and am feeling SO much better about where I am. Opportunity knocks, I am choosing to answer.
By early Fall, both jobs have gone back to business as usual (Thank God! People need the surgeries their doctors deem necessary; elective isn’t always a suggestion!) and I’m back to doing the Perianesthesia Nursing that I love. But, often that is working 5 10-hour days, and many weekends I take a 24-hour call. Those surgeries that should have happened during those months back in the Spring are now back-logged and we are busy!
While the settlement was very fair, I am now having to make up for lost time on retirement. Slow but sure wins the race. It also makes me exhausted. I’m tired. I need a vacation. Badly. I contemplated Costa Rica a while back, but never followed through. Generally speaking, I’m kind of a tightwad and pretty frugal; I just plodded on hoping things would get better. It hasn’t and there is no end in sight, despite the vaccine rolling out. I don’t know about other places, but Oregon has done a dismal job in distribution with a small fraction of what they’d hoped when we got our doses. Mismanagement is the modus operandi here. I’m not getting any younger, but I am getting more tired. It’s time to go somewhere and find some rest. That’s when I saw @disneyAndi14 say something about a possible trip in January. It didn’t work out, which super bummed me out, but I still wanted to go. I contacted my Disney Bestie @Malia78 and she was going with her folks the first week of February. That would work!!! Opportunity knocked; Hello, Disney! Where have you been for so long?!
(No, we're not a couple! But the photo does have a hilarious story.)
I can be impetuous. It’s a fault I have, and it sometimes works out. Sometimes it’s disastrous, but this time I think it did the trick of locking me into a trip I really need. Within hours of making the snap decision to go on a basically last-minute trip, I had booked a package, a flight, and found a roomie. But all of that will have to wait for the next post as this chapter is already far, FAR too long and dry. But that is the background and genesis of a Winter Trip celebrating the seized opportunities of the last year. The world is a messy, chaotic mess right now. It's also a beautiful oyster and there is still good in it. I may be uneasy about a lot of things, but deep down there is joy and hope. I am bolstered by some rock steady friends who help me see clearly when I start to lose my way. I hope in this new year you too have a bright outlook for things to come. Carpe diem!!!
More to come in the coming days….
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Also, now I want to know the story!
: It was good to get back into the swing of things academically and learn new things! 
I am so glad you are starting a new trip report...which means you have a trip or two planned! I hope you have an excellent time at WDW! And it will be 
Have a great time!
