Another Last Day at Work

My going away flowers




For those of you who don't know me, I'm a Physical Therapist Assistant who has been traveling the past 2 years, hence the email travelinmeme.....So AGAIN today, I said goodbye to my patients, friends and staff in the nursing home where I work. This is actually the 2nd time I've "left" this home. The first time I was gone 2 weeks and they called and asked me to come back. THAT was 6 months ago.

It's always hard to leave when I go, but I have so much trust in God that I need to move on, to give my skills, love, and attention to someone else, somewhere else. I get attached to the residents and they to me. Again today there were 3 loving, wonderful ladies all over the age of 80, cryin' their eyes out when I left. They don't think they can get better without me. A wife of a patient came to give me a hug and still is positive that if it weren't for me, her husband wouldn't be walking to this day.

The hard part is that I have been able to live at home and drive to work for the past 10 months, so as it appears I will be living out of a suitcase again, I'm a little bummed. The unfortunate thing about living where we do is there are so few opportunities to make good money and stay close to home, so I chose YES chose to travel so I can make more money - pay off my bills and be home later (I guess).

2 Years ago, I lived in a Motel 4 days a week, then drove home on Friday night, went back on Monday morning etc., etc. I did that for 9 weeks, then moved to an apartment for the next 9 months that was 1 1/2 hours from home. Again, I was only home on weekends. When given a chance last year to get paid to drive that 1 1/2 hours to and from work every day I took it, and was lucky it lasted as long as it did.

Like I said, I believe with all my heart that God has his hand in my plan, and I need to do what he asks me to do. This has been proven every assignment I go to, as I will explain. As strange as it seems this is what has occurred so far..... The first place I was sent was in a town I'd never heard of, and was 7 hours away from home. I walked in the door that first day, and to my surprise- the woman (girl) who was my MAID OF HONOR 35 years before, was sitting at the desk in the administrators office. She and her husband had moved to that area a long time ago and we had lost track of each other. We spent the next 9 weeks getting to know each other again and enjoying our renewed friendship.

My next assignment was only 1 1/2 hours from home and I actually had some distant relatives that lived in the area. I may have expected to see them, but I didn't expect for one of my friends from high school to be sitting in the administrators office when I walked in the door. AGAIN, we hadn't seen nor heard from each other for years, but had the next 9 months to renew our friendship. 4 Weeks after I got there, her son was killed in Iraq. I couldn't believe that I was there at that time and place, and am so honored to get to know her and her family again and all they have been through.

This last assigment was a struggle from day one. It was a different Rehab company that I was working for, and they had power struggles every time we turned around. The nursing home was struggling with some issues too, and I've wondered many times what I was thinking when I took the job. However in January, I looked out my office door and there was someone from back home that was interviewing for the job of Director of Nurses. I had worked with her before, and have a great deal of respect for her and her job ethic. I made sure that the administrators that were doing the interviewing knew that I highly recommended her for the position. I told them that I that Melissa would bring a sense of continuity to the position that was needed. I also knew for a fact that people enjoy working with and for her and that staff retention would be better with her as their DON. I knew too, that she had achieved a high level of respect for other people and would be an asset for interdepartmental communications within the facility. That, and of course I would LOVE to work with her. To make a long story short - she began her job last week. So, now she's there, and I'm not! Huh! I guess my reason for being there was to help them find an absolutely awesome nurse and director of nurses. She has my HU-Rah!

I have a few days of looking for a job now. Don't know where, don't know when, but always know why - and that's because God has a purpose for me and a plan. I look forward to learning what he wants me to, to living the way he wants me to, and being the kind of person that if you know me - you want to know God too. I don't believe in luck - I believe in blessings, and once again I feel truly blessed to get to do what I do. Thanks to all of you that have been there-done that with me. I love you all.