...but there is always time to paint!
The weather got warmer and the paddling season began in earnest. I was lucky to get away to Portland Island and sit on the beach sketching and painting for a couple of days. "Spirit Trees", "Old Growth Cedars" and another sketch of my favorite "Old Arbutus" and "Arbutus Point on Portland Island" emerged from the serenity of listening to the waves.
I picked up several extra shifts, mostly night shifts, this month as well. I am reminded of the fragility of life. And how quickly a "task" masks the person lying on the stretcher looking up at you. In the overwhelming hectic pace of the ED, just like every other job in the world, there are tasks that need to be done, questions that need to be asked, data that needs to be entered in the new electronic charts ... learning the new computer system has pulled precious moments of personal interaction between nurse and patient, we are becoming a profession of mouse clicking ticky boxes automatons. I miss paper. For the first time I am aware that I am aging out of my job. I'll stick it out until retirement in 7 years but this switch to electronic charting has not come easy to me. I am a salmon swimming upstream in the river of technology and nursing.
To celebrate Mother's Day I went for High Tea with my (childish) parents and (adult) children ...I could easily eat cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches, lemon tarts and lavender earl grey tea in fine bone china on a regular basis. And scones with clotted cream. I was reminded of the day a decade and a half ago when my neighbor was visiting and noticed that my hutch was slightly askew from the buffet it was attached to. When she adjusted it the whole thing crashed to the floor with all of my Royal Albert Memory Lane fine bone china and Pinwheel Crystal, wedding presents that I had dusted and washed but seldom used for 10 years. She was devastated. I was not. Even though that was what young brides did at the time, collect china and crystal and put it on display, it didn't really bother me that it was in shatters all over my dining room floor. I told my neighbor that Friends were more important than Things, and that was the end of it. Ironically, we are no longer friends and I have the most eclectic collection of favorite mismatched mugs and tea cups. We evolve.
On our anniversary on the 23rd Peter and I sat across the living room at the end of a long dusty work day, weary and sticky, and late. We had made plans for dinner and a movie and by the time we got home from our busy days we were both "done in". I could easily have had a cool shower and put on a nightie and rain-checked our date. I suspect he felt the same way, except for the nightie. For a split second I saw us ignoring our 37th anniversary for the comfort of complacency. With a jolt we both stood up and said "Right...let's go!" It was too late to get to the restaurant so our dinner was a drive-through A&W for the best Teen burger ever as we dashed into the theater for tickets just as the lights dimmed. It was worth the effort!
Once again I am reminded: Don't let Perfect get in the way of Done.
The month of May has come and gone. See you next Tuesday!
And check out my sister 52 Over 50 bloggers www.carolkinnee.com and www.cathypelter.com
Carol has a new look to her website and a brand new book available.
