I'M GOING TO MAINE!!!!
How do you ever thank someone for sharing their two week vacation with you, to turn into your dream vacation/retirement celebration extraordinaire? There are no words sufficient. So, I'll just tell you the story and let you see for yourself how awesome my daughter, Misty and her husband, Jonathan are, and both their kids, Craig and Megan.
July 22: We started out from their home in Charlotte, with their Toyota Sequoia loaded to the brim inside, dog crates folded down and strapped to the luggage rack on top, and their four bicycles anchored securely on the rear bumper. The first leg of the trip was for a double treat: first we were meeting my son, Rusty and his family, in our old home town of Oak Ridge TN and spending Saturday with them and all five grand kids at the Science and Energy Museum, and having lunch together at Rusty's favorite high school hangout - Billy's Time Out Deli. That evening after Rusty's family left for home Craig, Megan and I walked to Chick-fil-A for dinner while Misty and Jonathan went to her 20 year high school reunion. The kids are so awesome to be around, and we have great fun together. Craig had bought himself a laptop with his own money, so he stayed up in the rooms with both dogs, Nick and Leo, while I sat out by the pool and watched Megan play mermaid for about an hour. The next morning we loaded back up and headed out on the first day of our two day drive to Bar Harbor, Maine.
July 24: Jonathan drove, and drove, and drove....he is such a great sport about taking the family on long vacations and never complains about all the driving. I saw scenery I had never seen before, and enjoyed sharing the middle seat with Megan and both dogs, who slept pretty much the entire trip up and back! Craig had his own little 'cave' in the rear seat, and seemed content there. We stopped for the night at the Hilton in Stamford CT, and our room, yes, ROOM (all five people and two dogs in crates) was on the 10th floor. Not fun taking two dogs up and down the elevator to 'go potty', no matter how well they behaved. We managed just fine, and had a great breakfast in the Executive Suite before heading out for the rest of the trip.
July 25: On the road again, oh yes! We stopped in Freeport, ME at the LLBean store. Wow, it is HUGE! It's actually store(S) and we spent a long time there. We finally arrived at our 'home away from home' about 8 p.m. and unloaded the car, ordered a pizza for supper and crashed, all exhausted but excited to be there. It was about 55 degrees that night. Ahhhh.
Misty had found us the cutest little house! "The Head of the Harbor Overlook" was a three bedroom one bath cottage right on Main Street in Southwest Harbor, ME. We were directly across the street from the harbor, with a fantastic view from the living room window! We spent the day getting settled in, buying groceries, playing games, and walking into town (all of a 10 minute easy walk) to see what was available there to eat and do. For dinner that night we went to a 'lobster pound', where they bring the lobsters right from the boat to the pot, and you choose which one you want cooked, go sit on a screened in deck over the water, and have a very messy but delicious fresh 'lobstah dinnah'.
I forgot to mention that two bedrooms were upstairs, and the bathroom was downstairs, so the old lady got to pick her room first. I chose to room with Megan in the bunk bed room downstairs. It was so sweet to be able to share a room with my granddaughter for ten days, and whisper and giggle into the night! I also forgot to mention that the heavy truck and work traffic on Main Street, about 20 ft from our window, started up about 4:30 a.m. just about the same time that daylight started showing through the blinds. ARRRGGGHHH!!! This is vacation, for crying out loud! I didn't want a 4:30 wake-up call daily, so devised a way to cover the windows at night with black plastic bags. It helped a lot, and I managed to sleep through the traffic till nearly 6 a.m. every day!
We did so many fun things, and saw some of the most magnificent natural beauty I have ever seen. The Maine coast is not 'beachy' like our sandy SC beaches; it is rugged, rocky with nothing underfoot in many places but huge flat granite boulders that seem to run for miles. Even the place they had named "Sand Beach" was just crushed gravel, no real sand, and the water was freezing even this late in the summer. I did step into it, up to my ankles and took a picture of my feet in the water to prove I really did 'get in the water' in Maine, ha ha! We had great food everywhere we went, and the restaurants were all small, quaint, family places and no 'chain restaurant' places anywhere except in Ellsberg where we went to find a Walmart and the LLBean outlet - yes, outlet!!
Here are some of the trip highlights, for me anyway:
1) Actually completing a 2.7 mile 'hike' around Jordan Pond. This was over a trail that at first was nicely paved with rocks, then was over larger rocks, then was NO trail but make your own way over huge boulders sticking out into the lake and you needed to be a mountain goat to get through, and finally over a wooden plank trail over mushy marsh, and sometimes it was three planks wide, sometimes it was two planks wide, and sometimes ONE PLANK wide and there were no handrails. Quite a challenge for someone with tendencies to vertigo, and terrible balance on a good day. But I did it, and told the kids that I had hiked in Maine now, and didn't need to do anymore hiking!
2) Went to Cadillac Mountain and saw a great view from this rare pink granite mountain. We went back there one morning at 4:30 and watched the sunrise, the first place in the US to see it rise every day. Breathtaking!
3) We saw lots of lighthouses, the best one being Pemaquid Point Lighthouse. I have a beautiful watercolor of that one, painted by my sister, Deidre, as a 25th anniversary gift for Terry and me. I had been looking at that painting for 16 years, hoping to someday get to see it in person. Dream fulfilled.
4) We took a picnic lunch to the coast, and went to Schoodic Peninsula where we saw the awesome sight of the waves crashing into the rocks and sending up huge plumes of spray. Great pictures from there!
5) My birthday was spent on a whale watching cruise. We actually saw 8 whales that hung around for about half an hour, and I felt I had my birthday prayer answered, since the two boats out before ours had not seen any whales at all! Whales on my birthday - how awesome!! Dinner was in Bar Harbor at Pupununi's, in the fresh air on their patio, and the lobster bisque and lobster empanadas were unbelievable!
6) A couple of days the boys did outdoor guy-things, and the girls did things we enjoy more. Misty, Megan and I took a 2-hour horse drawn carriage ride on the Carriage Trails in Acadia National Park to see all the pretty stone bridges. One day we went to two gardens, Thuya Garden and Lodge, and then Asticou Azalea Garden. Such breathtaking beauty! Total flowers at Thuya, and total shrubs and landscaping at Asticou, but equally awesome in their own ways. Asticou has a Zen sand garden, and we got to watch the caretaker 'grooming' the sand, making amazing patterns with big wooden rakes. That night, Jonathan took Megan and me to tour the Atlantic Brewing Company, and we came home with some great local beer and blueberry sodas for the two kids...they had blueberry sodas every meal we ate out, and every day at the house!
I know I have left out a lot. We cooked great meals at the house, had lots of relaxation on the front lawn watching the harbor and the tourists walking by on their way into town in a never-ending parade of strange clothes, shoes, and languages. We shopped at all sorts of quaint stores, ate at all sorts of quaint restaurants, and walked into town at least once every day. Megan and I walked into town one morning and had ice cream cones, oh wonder of wonders - ice cream for breakfast! The weather was awesome, in the 50's at night and rarely up to 80 during the days - while back home they had heat index of 114 one day. Great timing, Misty and Jonathan!! We all got along great, the dogs got along great, the house was cute and clean with everything remodeled and brand new, and even though Craig was getting sick with fever and a very bad sore throat that ended up at a doctor's and antibiotics, he never complained and was a real trooper. Misty and Jonathan had done a wonderful job of planning the trip and activities. They had been to the area several times before, and knew where to avoid and where to be sure to go! The trip home took two more days of driving, poor Jonathan, and the first one was in hours of a torrential rain. Again I sing his praises, so much patience and great driving skills!
As vacations go, it was a dream-come-true for me. As for retirement celebrations, it was the icing on the cake. If I had listened to people at work and hung on until the hospital sold, I would surely have been in the big layoff that happened on my birthday. True, I would have made a little more money this year, and could have drawn unemployment. But none of that was worth the soul-filling, memory-making adventures that I have had this summer. I would never have been able to take that much time off from work and would have missed out on these magnificent things. God has blessed me beyond belief, and I give Him thanks every day, several times a day, for allowing me to retire and still have enjoyment in life. I really am going to be okay. It was the right decision, the best one I have made since being on my own again, and I can't wait to see what is coming up to write about next!!!!!
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Chapter 4: PLANS, PLANS, AND MORE PLANS - HERE'S THE FIRST:
Oh, the plans! For a year or more I had saved money for a trip that got cancelled. This was now my fund for what became my summer-long retirement celebration.
After toying with and discarding the idea of a sisters' cruise, my youngest sister decided to follow her heart and buy a used camper, and arranged to do missions work by volunteering to tutor at a childrens' home in the mountains. It seemed logical that she would need a teacher's aide, so I volunteered to volunteer and she graciously accepted. We started buying things for the camper, stocking it up for the summer and planning our travel and work schedules so we could enjoy the whole experience. I also was thrilled to be invited to join my daughter and son-in-law, and the two oldest grandchildren, (and both our dogs) on a two week vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine later in the summer! They had spent several vacations up there, but this was to be my first experience with "Mainers".
I arranged for bills to be paid before I left, for internet access to pay things I couldn't pay ahead, to have the mail held, for the lawn care, and got the dog up to date with his vaccinations and tags. I didn't plant a veggie garden since I knew I would be gone most of the summer, but I did have shrubbery and flowers I didn't want to lose, so I set up a sprinkler on a timer that would water regularly while I was away. I have wonderful neighbors who kept a keen eye on the place for me, and good friends who drove by to check on things, also. I got my clothes together, several times before I was satisfied that I had enough for a month but not too much to store in the limited space of a camper with two grown women, two dogs and their crates, and teaching supplies for a whole summer. April and May just FLEW by, and suddenly it was time to go!
CAMPING FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE: Nevilee and I, our two Shih Tzus, and a camper full of stuff to use doing reading intervention at the school headed out for Foscoe, NC outside of Boone. Our brother David and his wife and son were kind enough to pull the camper up there for us with his big pickup. We got set up on our campsite, which was right on the banks of a creek with a view of Grandfather Mountain. They stayed the weekend, and then we were on our own.
But I forgot the 'health' issues we started out with! Two days before we left, I had a bad fall in my kitchen, and sprained my back severely. I headed out for a month of camping with pain pills, muscle relaxers, heating pads and not much confidence I would be able to stick it out. Before that first weekend was over, Nev's diverticulitis had a very painful, serious flare-up, and she ended up in the ER having a CT scan, and back to the camper with pain pills, two antibiotics, and bed rest. What a sorry lot we were, but we had a week before our teaching was to start while waiting for our security clearances. So we rested a LOT, and sat by the creek a LOT, and moved around really slowly and trying not to moan too much.
Finally, we were better and the clearances came through. We started volunteer tutoring at the Crossnore School. It is a beautiful facility outside of Boone. Some of the kids live there, having been removed from their family for various reasons, and some are day students. We were assigned to 3 little girls from 5-7 years old, and two brothers 8 and 10 but with wildly differing abilities and needs. We had another teacher friend of Nev's there too, and we did individual work with these kids four days a week for 3 hours a day, rotating the days and kids. Nev and Tina are very experienced reading intervention specialists, and I am just a gopher, but with the materials they brought to use I was able to work as a tutor also. What a blessing these kids were to us, showing us how blessed we are with the lives we had as children. I think it really hit me hardest when the 8 year old boy was talking to me the first day and I mentioned that I have a granddaughter the same age. He quickly looked up at me and asked me "who does she live with?", as if he expects all children to live with someone other than their parents. I really fought hard to keep the tears back. I was amazed though, at watching and listening to my kid sister teaching, and counseling, and the depth of her knowledge and experience. She is an amazingly gifted teacher and I am very proud of her!
I guess we did some things right, though. They had a program there where mothers and kids could live on campus if the mom agreed to work in their fabulous Thrift Shop as well as continue her own education. One of our little girls was in this program, and we shopped at the Thrift Store frequently and met her mom. One day the mom told us her daughter was mad with us, and we asked why in the world....she said because we weren't teaching her EVERY day! What a great feeling, and no better compliment could she have given us.
We did tons of sightseeing, and cooking at the campground, and going to neat restaurants. We spent lots of time (and money!) in quilt shops and antique stores, and even ended up with me buying a dulcimer before we left. No, I still cannot play it, but it sure is pretty :-)
One Saturday we went to the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival up in Mouth of Wilson, VA. Some cousins were going to meet us there, and said it was only 55 miles from the campground and we could be there in an hour. Well folks, these were 55 mountain miles. No lines, no guardrails, mostly twisting single lane and 35 mph if we were lucky. Two and a half hours later we finally arrived, me with cramps in my hands from clutching the door handle and console due to being extremely, extremely skittish about riding on curvy roads that drop off into infinity right outside MY car door. Nev is a really good driver. I am a poor passenger. She deserves a medal... for driving so well and ignoring my gasps and flinches, and staying in a good mood! It stormed not long after we arrived there, and about half the crowd left, but the show went on and we had great fun listening to the music and even getting a private dulcimer lesson! Needless to say, we left in time to get us back 'home' to the campground before having to travel those horrid roads in the dark! Adventure????
A couple of our weekends were pleasantly shared with Nev's daughter and son-in-law camping near our site, and my daughter and grandkids sharing our camper. It was great to take the kids 'mining for gems' and to the Mystery Hill so we could walk crooked and watch water run uphill, to make s'mores around the fire, and walk up the hill to see the nightly display of literally MILLIONS of lightning bugs. I have never seen anything so breathtaking, better than the stars in the sky and those who know me well know how crazy I am about sitting out late at night looking at the stars!
Did you see us on America's Funniest Videos?? We should have been on it... our campground neighbors missed a golden opportunity to video us if they didn't. We were parked in a spot between two huge, brand new, jaw-dropping-gorgeous RV's and felt like the poor cousin stuck in the middle. You see, our little camper was old, dented from being wrecked, and not everything worked exactly correctly; there was the leaky tub, the freezer door that wouldn't stay shut, the heater that wouldn't come on the night it was 45 degrees outside, and the awning....ah, the awning. We knew the supports didn't pull out just right, and had C-clamps holding it in places. What we didn't know was that it was dry rotted and in two layers. We found this out the morning after a huge all night rain. I opened the door and it dragged against the sagging awning! The rain had run between the two layers and filled up the bottom one like a huge bladder. The weight of this had bent the roller, so even after we pierced the bottom layer and let the water gush out we had trouble, lots of it, trying to roll it back against the camper. Mind you, this was all happening during a pretty steady rain, us 'old women' with raincoats, hoods, and glasses that kept blurring from the water. I can't imagine the comments that must have been made in the neighboring campers, but I am sure they had the best laugh of their week! An estimate later that week to replace the bent roller and rotted awning, and seal the top of the camper came in just a little under what had been paid for the camper to begin with that summer! It still isn't fixed. Adventure, right?
The month came to an end, and the experience enriched my life beyond belief. I am amazed that two 'mature' sisters could spend a whole month crowded up in a small camper, trying to adhere to a very strict diet for her with no wheat, gluten, sugar, dairy or yeast (and pretty successfully, too!) and never once get all huffy and exasperated with each other like we sometimes do in just short visits. I guess we have both finally grown up. I love my sister, and love the woman she has grown up to be....heck, I even LIKE her!!
Back in Barnwell, everything was fine at home. It was time to recover a little and prepare for the next big adventure at the end of July!
After toying with and discarding the idea of a sisters' cruise, my youngest sister decided to follow her heart and buy a used camper, and arranged to do missions work by volunteering to tutor at a childrens' home in the mountains. It seemed logical that she would need a teacher's aide, so I volunteered to volunteer and she graciously accepted. We started buying things for the camper, stocking it up for the summer and planning our travel and work schedules so we could enjoy the whole experience. I also was thrilled to be invited to join my daughter and son-in-law, and the two oldest grandchildren, (and both our dogs) on a two week vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine later in the summer! They had spent several vacations up there, but this was to be my first experience with "Mainers".
I arranged for bills to be paid before I left, for internet access to pay things I couldn't pay ahead, to have the mail held, for the lawn care, and got the dog up to date with his vaccinations and tags. I didn't plant a veggie garden since I knew I would be gone most of the summer, but I did have shrubbery and flowers I didn't want to lose, so I set up a sprinkler on a timer that would water regularly while I was away. I have wonderful neighbors who kept a keen eye on the place for me, and good friends who drove by to check on things, also. I got my clothes together, several times before I was satisfied that I had enough for a month but not too much to store in the limited space of a camper with two grown women, two dogs and their crates, and teaching supplies for a whole summer. April and May just FLEW by, and suddenly it was time to go!
CAMPING FOR THE MONTH OF JUNE: Nevilee and I, our two Shih Tzus, and a camper full of stuff to use doing reading intervention at the school headed out for Foscoe, NC outside of Boone. Our brother David and his wife and son were kind enough to pull the camper up there for us with his big pickup. We got set up on our campsite, which was right on the banks of a creek with a view of Grandfather Mountain. They stayed the weekend, and then we were on our own.
But I forgot the 'health' issues we started out with! Two days before we left, I had a bad fall in my kitchen, and sprained my back severely. I headed out for a month of camping with pain pills, muscle relaxers, heating pads and not much confidence I would be able to stick it out. Before that first weekend was over, Nev's diverticulitis had a very painful, serious flare-up, and she ended up in the ER having a CT scan, and back to the camper with pain pills, two antibiotics, and bed rest. What a sorry lot we were, but we had a week before our teaching was to start while waiting for our security clearances. So we rested a LOT, and sat by the creek a LOT, and moved around really slowly and trying not to moan too much.
Finally, we were better and the clearances came through. We started volunteer tutoring at the Crossnore School. It is a beautiful facility outside of Boone. Some of the kids live there, having been removed from their family for various reasons, and some are day students. We were assigned to 3 little girls from 5-7 years old, and two brothers 8 and 10 but with wildly differing abilities and needs. We had another teacher friend of Nev's there too, and we did individual work with these kids four days a week for 3 hours a day, rotating the days and kids. Nev and Tina are very experienced reading intervention specialists, and I am just a gopher, but with the materials they brought to use I was able to work as a tutor also. What a blessing these kids were to us, showing us how blessed we are with the lives we had as children. I think it really hit me hardest when the 8 year old boy was talking to me the first day and I mentioned that I have a granddaughter the same age. He quickly looked up at me and asked me "who does she live with?", as if he expects all children to live with someone other than their parents. I really fought hard to keep the tears back. I was amazed though, at watching and listening to my kid sister teaching, and counseling, and the depth of her knowledge and experience. She is an amazingly gifted teacher and I am very proud of her!
I guess we did some things right, though. They had a program there where mothers and kids could live on campus if the mom agreed to work in their fabulous Thrift Shop as well as continue her own education. One of our little girls was in this program, and we shopped at the Thrift Store frequently and met her mom. One day the mom told us her daughter was mad with us, and we asked why in the world....she said because we weren't teaching her EVERY day! What a great feeling, and no better compliment could she have given us.
We did tons of sightseeing, and cooking at the campground, and going to neat restaurants. We spent lots of time (and money!) in quilt shops and antique stores, and even ended up with me buying a dulcimer before we left. No, I still cannot play it, but it sure is pretty :-)
One Saturday we went to the Wayne C. Henderson Music Festival up in Mouth of Wilson, VA. Some cousins were going to meet us there, and said it was only 55 miles from the campground and we could be there in an hour. Well folks, these were 55 mountain miles. No lines, no guardrails, mostly twisting single lane and 35 mph if we were lucky. Two and a half hours later we finally arrived, me with cramps in my hands from clutching the door handle and console due to being extremely, extremely skittish about riding on curvy roads that drop off into infinity right outside MY car door. Nev is a really good driver. I am a poor passenger. She deserves a medal... for driving so well and ignoring my gasps and flinches, and staying in a good mood! It stormed not long after we arrived there, and about half the crowd left, but the show went on and we had great fun listening to the music and even getting a private dulcimer lesson! Needless to say, we left in time to get us back 'home' to the campground before having to travel those horrid roads in the dark! Adventure????
A couple of our weekends were pleasantly shared with Nev's daughter and son-in-law camping near our site, and my daughter and grandkids sharing our camper. It was great to take the kids 'mining for gems' and to the Mystery Hill so we could walk crooked and watch water run uphill, to make s'mores around the fire, and walk up the hill to see the nightly display of literally MILLIONS of lightning bugs. I have never seen anything so breathtaking, better than the stars in the sky and those who know me well know how crazy I am about sitting out late at night looking at the stars!
Did you see us on America's Funniest Videos?? We should have been on it... our campground neighbors missed a golden opportunity to video us if they didn't. We were parked in a spot between two huge, brand new, jaw-dropping-gorgeous RV's and felt like the poor cousin stuck in the middle. You see, our little camper was old, dented from being wrecked, and not everything worked exactly correctly; there was the leaky tub, the freezer door that wouldn't stay shut, the heater that wouldn't come on the night it was 45 degrees outside, and the awning....ah, the awning. We knew the supports didn't pull out just right, and had C-clamps holding it in places. What we didn't know was that it was dry rotted and in two layers. We found this out the morning after a huge all night rain. I opened the door and it dragged against the sagging awning! The rain had run between the two layers and filled up the bottom one like a huge bladder. The weight of this had bent the roller, so even after we pierced the bottom layer and let the water gush out we had trouble, lots of it, trying to roll it back against the camper. Mind you, this was all happening during a pretty steady rain, us 'old women' with raincoats, hoods, and glasses that kept blurring from the water. I can't imagine the comments that must have been made in the neighboring campers, but I am sure they had the best laugh of their week! An estimate later that week to replace the bent roller and rotted awning, and seal the top of the camper came in just a little under what had been paid for the camper to begin with that summer! It still isn't fixed. Adventure, right?
The month came to an end, and the experience enriched my life beyond belief. I am amazed that two 'mature' sisters could spend a whole month crowded up in a small camper, trying to adhere to a very strict diet for her with no wheat, gluten, sugar, dairy or yeast (and pretty successfully, too!) and never once get all huffy and exasperated with each other like we sometimes do in just short visits. I guess we have both finally grown up. I love my sister, and love the woman she has grown up to be....heck, I even LIKE her!!
Back in Barnwell, everything was fine at home. It was time to recover a little and prepare for the next big adventure at the end of July!
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Chapter 3: RETIRE? BUT YOU ARE TOO YOUNG! ARE YOU SURE??
My decision was made. That was the easy part. Now I had to tell my boss and the CEO about my plan. I worried about when, and how to do this, but eventually decided to just forge ahead. They were pretty much flabbergasted, and asked me several times if I was sure I really wanted to do this, and if I could just wait a few months and see what was to come with the buyout. Nope, my mind was made up and I was already making plans for my new life!
I didn't want a big fuss, but knowing 'the gang' I worked with there was no way to avoid it. I got a lot of kidding about retiring, that it was for 'old people' and I wasn't old enough. Yeah, right. You should live a month in my body... I was given 'the royal treatment', by coworkers tricking me into meeting them at Mi Rancho for drinks and dinner (and nice gifts, gang!). I was honored at a reception given by the hospital where many employees came by to give me good wishes, and lovely parting gifts that will always warm my heart. I had to make a 'speech', and told my little story about my first day and being told there was no team there, but that this person was very wrong! There is a strong sense of being part of a team, and not just from the department I was assigned to but with people from every department, and that I had been very blessed by working at BCH. I was later told I bawled like a baby, but I think that was an exaggeration, Tricia ;-) A dear friend had me and some close friends for a home-cooked meal that was very special, in honor of my retirement. I received flowers, plants, cards, hugs, and wonderful gifts. But that's not why I retired....I wanted to be free, free to visit family, to go out of town for grandkids school events, to spend time fishing with my aging Daddy while he was still able, and not have to budget my vacation days to have time with family at holidays and in the summer yet still save enough to be sick, because as good as they are, BCH has a really lousy 'sick time' policy and me having asthma now meant several bouts of bronchitis or even pneumonia every year!
It took a while to sink in, that I was not just on vacation and would not have to return in a few days. I was making grand plans for my summer-long celebration, and there was much to do to prepare myself and my home for all the time I would be away.
I didn't want a big fuss, but knowing 'the gang' I worked with there was no way to avoid it. I got a lot of kidding about retiring, that it was for 'old people' and I wasn't old enough. Yeah, right. You should live a month in my body... I was given 'the royal treatment', by coworkers tricking me into meeting them at Mi Rancho for drinks and dinner (and nice gifts, gang!). I was honored at a reception given by the hospital where many employees came by to give me good wishes, and lovely parting gifts that will always warm my heart. I had to make a 'speech', and told my little story about my first day and being told there was no team there, but that this person was very wrong! There is a strong sense of being part of a team, and not just from the department I was assigned to but with people from every department, and that I had been very blessed by working at BCH. I was later told I bawled like a baby, but I think that was an exaggeration, Tricia ;-) A dear friend had me and some close friends for a home-cooked meal that was very special, in honor of my retirement. I received flowers, plants, cards, hugs, and wonderful gifts. But that's not why I retired....I wanted to be free, free to visit family, to go out of town for grandkids school events, to spend time fishing with my aging Daddy while he was still able, and not have to budget my vacation days to have time with family at holidays and in the summer yet still save enough to be sick, because as good as they are, BCH has a really lousy 'sick time' policy and me having asthma now meant several bouts of bronchitis or even pneumonia every year!
It took a while to sink in, that I was not just on vacation and would not have to return in a few days. I was making grand plans for my summer-long celebration, and there was much to do to prepare myself and my home for all the time I would be away.
Chapter 2: AND THEN THE DREAM ENDED....
Well, not completely ended, but changed drastically. The CEO retired unexpectedly early, the CNO was asked to 'fill in' until the Board could find a replacement, and so 'my boss' moved to another floor, another office, with another assistant who was probably the glue that kept the hospital together ~ she knew everything that needed to be kept up with, when to do what, and who to expect to do what. So, that left me hanging, waiting for a new CNO to be hired.
Happy Day! The nurse manager that had been sharing our triple-room office was named as CNO! I really enjoyed working with him, he had a wicked sense of humor (well, still does, but he is no longer CNO...more story later), and had so many fascinating life stories to share, as he has been in the nursing profession since he was 16! But alas, he had trouble letting go of duties and tasks, and I found my days dragging, not having enough to do to make me feel needed. I found myself asking for projects from other departments within the hospital. I got to do so many fun, interesting, and yes - BORRRRRing - things. There were minutes of meetings - good grief, the meetings! - and booklets, bulletin boards, copies by the thousands it seemed. I got to create the pamphlet that promoted the hospital's new venture ~ three satellite clinics manned by a physician, nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants. There were health fairs, and setting up luncheons with physician offices to introduce new medical staff members to them, and various community events involving the hospital. I helped plan and orchestrate Nurses Day celebrations, a Nursing Dept drop-in, and holiday celebrations galore. Most of what I did was enjoyable even though I was reluctant to jump into some of the projects. This may be boring by comparison to some careers, but it suited me well for this time in my life.
See, I have never been a 'career' person. I have never desired the 'power suit and power heels' that come with the attending career stress, headaches, and numerous physical ailments created by such stress and long hours. I am very much a 'knit pants outfit and flats from Ross' kind of gal, content to work hard all day but clear my desk and leave at 5:30, not to think about the job again until I clocked back in - no beeper, no taking call. I was happy there.
Before the end of that year we had to prepare for the Joint Commission Survey that was due by Dec. 31. This involved review, and subsequent revision of hundreds of lengthy policies and procedures all over the hospital. Guess who got 'asked' to do all this, and due to the missing programs on the computer, completely retype every letter of most of them? Yep. Yours truly. Wouldn't have been so bad if the managers had worked on these all year long like they were instructed, instead of all waiting until the last couple of weeks and dumping them on me. Whew! That was stressful, and I determined then that I would be gone before the next Joint Commission Survey in 3 more years. I did not intend to live through another one and I started making comments to that effect. There was great news though ~ we passed with flying colors, and are still accredited!
Well, life is full of changes, and this CNO decided to leave for other opportunities. Here I was, hanging in limbo again. The hospital was in a financial crisis, as it had been for a very long time, and I was concerned my job might not be considered crucial. There were furloughs, then a 10% pay cut hospital-wide for a quarter, and eventually layoffs. This is all publicly documented in the Barnwell paper, so I'm not telling secrets. They did hire another CNO, a delightful, beautiful young woman who was very easy to work for also. However, she also had problems delegating duties and projects, and I seriously worried about the state of my job. The county wanted out of managing the hospital, and it was put up for sale. Right now it looks as though a good company is going to buy it and manage it well. The company that was initially to buy it though sent in their corporate suit-and-tie-guys who would not even speak to employees in the halls; didn't send employees a good 'vibe', but we had no say, it was all management and County Council. The rumor was they would wipe out all accrued vacation, sick time, and retirement once they took over. I couldn't bear the thought of yet another set of management, rules and regulations at my age.
I started thinking. I was already 60 years old and a widow, so I could draw my late husband's Social Security and have some income, and am still on his company's health insurance as a retiree, so I didn't need benefits. We had invested wisely in income producing annuities, and I have a very astute young financial genius managing these for me. We determined I could use these sources and have enough income to be okay, so I made my decision at the end of February to retire by March 31, 2011. I have never felt such fear and yet such relief in my life! Would I really be okay??
Happy Day! The nurse manager that had been sharing our triple-room office was named as CNO! I really enjoyed working with him, he had a wicked sense of humor (well, still does, but he is no longer CNO...more story later), and had so many fascinating life stories to share, as he has been in the nursing profession since he was 16! But alas, he had trouble letting go of duties and tasks, and I found my days dragging, not having enough to do to make me feel needed. I found myself asking for projects from other departments within the hospital. I got to do so many fun, interesting, and yes - BORRRRRing - things. There were minutes of meetings - good grief, the meetings! - and booklets, bulletin boards, copies by the thousands it seemed. I got to create the pamphlet that promoted the hospital's new venture ~ three satellite clinics manned by a physician, nurse practitioners, and physician's assistants. There were health fairs, and setting up luncheons with physician offices to introduce new medical staff members to them, and various community events involving the hospital. I helped plan and orchestrate Nurses Day celebrations, a Nursing Dept drop-in, and holiday celebrations galore. Most of what I did was enjoyable even though I was reluctant to jump into some of the projects. This may be boring by comparison to some careers, but it suited me well for this time in my life.
See, I have never been a 'career' person. I have never desired the 'power suit and power heels' that come with the attending career stress, headaches, and numerous physical ailments created by such stress and long hours. I am very much a 'knit pants outfit and flats from Ross' kind of gal, content to work hard all day but clear my desk and leave at 5:30, not to think about the job again until I clocked back in - no beeper, no taking call. I was happy there.
Before the end of that year we had to prepare for the Joint Commission Survey that was due by Dec. 31. This involved review, and subsequent revision of hundreds of lengthy policies and procedures all over the hospital. Guess who got 'asked' to do all this, and due to the missing programs on the computer, completely retype every letter of most of them? Yep. Yours truly. Wouldn't have been so bad if the managers had worked on these all year long like they were instructed, instead of all waiting until the last couple of weeks and dumping them on me. Whew! That was stressful, and I determined then that I would be gone before the next Joint Commission Survey in 3 more years. I did not intend to live through another one and I started making comments to that effect. There was great news though ~ we passed with flying colors, and are still accredited!
Well, life is full of changes, and this CNO decided to leave for other opportunities. Here I was, hanging in limbo again. The hospital was in a financial crisis, as it had been for a very long time, and I was concerned my job might not be considered crucial. There were furloughs, then a 10% pay cut hospital-wide for a quarter, and eventually layoffs. This is all publicly documented in the Barnwell paper, so I'm not telling secrets. They did hire another CNO, a delightful, beautiful young woman who was very easy to work for also. However, she also had problems delegating duties and projects, and I seriously worried about the state of my job. The county wanted out of managing the hospital, and it was put up for sale. Right now it looks as though a good company is going to buy it and manage it well. The company that was initially to buy it though sent in their corporate suit-and-tie-guys who would not even speak to employees in the halls; didn't send employees a good 'vibe', but we had no say, it was all management and County Council. The rumor was they would wipe out all accrued vacation, sick time, and retirement once they took over. I couldn't bear the thought of yet another set of management, rules and regulations at my age.
I started thinking. I was already 60 years old and a widow, so I could draw my late husband's Social Security and have some income, and am still on his company's health insurance as a retiree, so I didn't need benefits. We had invested wisely in income producing annuities, and I have a very astute young financial genius managing these for me. We determined I could use these sources and have enough income to be okay, so I made my decision at the end of February to retire by March 31, 2011. I have never felt such fear and yet such relief in my life! Would I really be okay??
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Chapter I: IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS THE DREAM JOB...
Why people read things that other people write about themselves puzzles me, except that I do it, too, so I puzzle myself!
This is my story, about my retirement decision, the actual retirement itself, and the adventures it has afforded me.... up to this point. I'm told it may bring up painful, sad memories that might make me, or others, uncomfortable. Remember, it is MY story, from MY point of view, and is meant to point no fingers, place no blame, or cause hurt to anyone. If you don't like what I'm writing, click out of it. Pure and simple.
Okay...here goes:
All my life I wanted to work at the Barnwell County Hospital, in any job, anywhere. My mom worked there as an RN for many years and I guess now that she has passed on, it would make me feel more connected to her, and that she would be proud of me. When the opportunity arose in late February 2008 to apply for a full time job, which I desperately needed to support myself since being widowed four years prior, I was so afraid it wouldn't work out. But silly me, the Lord always takes care of me and I know that, I just forget to trust Him sometimes.
I interviewed with the Chief Nursing Officer ~ the best, most relaxed interview I have ever had. We seemed to be kindred spirits, and when she talked about her dream to make BCH a Magnet Hospital, I was hooked. I wanted in on the ground floor of that exciting time! I had references from friends who were employed in several departments over the hospital. I was offered the job as her assistant, providing support to the Nursing Department if needed.
My first day was March 4, 2008. That very day, when greeted by a long-time employee known for a bitter attitude, I expressed my delight at being part of the BCH 'team'. I was informed in short order and no uncertain terms that "there isn't a team here. It's a lot of little teams looking out for their own interests. You can forget being part of any team, ha ha". Well, I considered the source and didn't believe this, so went about settling in to my office, the first (and ultimately, the only!) real office I ever had in a job. I have had cubbies, front desks to work from, a closet turned into transcription room once, a shared office with another secretary, but never a real office all to myself, with a WINDOW, OMG!!! One small glitch...there wasn't a computer yet. Hmmmm. How does a typist/secretary provided support when she has nothing to type on, nothing to research information on the internet with? THREE WEEKS LATER, after multiple notes and phone messages to the IT department literally begging for a computer, I was rewarded with one that had belonged to someone else, with many programs wiped from it. I kept having to re-invent the wheel the whole time I worked there, from not having access to documents to work from without completely retyping, but I plugged along - happily, I might add, the majority of the time.
It was my dream job. It didn't pay what I had asked for, but it was full time, and steady, and I LOVED WHAT I WAS DOING! The 'boss' had projects everywhere to work on, never a dull moment, a different task and challenge nearly every day, and my hours just flew by. I often stayed late just to hang out and be a part of what was happening. I felt needed, appreciated, competent and content.
This is my story, about my retirement decision, the actual retirement itself, and the adventures it has afforded me.... up to this point. I'm told it may bring up painful, sad memories that might make me, or others, uncomfortable. Remember, it is MY story, from MY point of view, and is meant to point no fingers, place no blame, or cause hurt to anyone. If you don't like what I'm writing, click out of it. Pure and simple.
Okay...here goes:
All my life I wanted to work at the Barnwell County Hospital, in any job, anywhere. My mom worked there as an RN for many years and I guess now that she has passed on, it would make me feel more connected to her, and that she would be proud of me. When the opportunity arose in late February 2008 to apply for a full time job, which I desperately needed to support myself since being widowed four years prior, I was so afraid it wouldn't work out. But silly me, the Lord always takes care of me and I know that, I just forget to trust Him sometimes.
I interviewed with the Chief Nursing Officer ~ the best, most relaxed interview I have ever had. We seemed to be kindred spirits, and when she talked about her dream to make BCH a Magnet Hospital, I was hooked. I wanted in on the ground floor of that exciting time! I had references from friends who were employed in several departments over the hospital. I was offered the job as her assistant, providing support to the Nursing Department if needed.
My first day was March 4, 2008. That very day, when greeted by a long-time employee known for a bitter attitude, I expressed my delight at being part of the BCH 'team'. I was informed in short order and no uncertain terms that "there isn't a team here. It's a lot of little teams looking out for their own interests. You can forget being part of any team, ha ha". Well, I considered the source and didn't believe this, so went about settling in to my office, the first (and ultimately, the only!) real office I ever had in a job. I have had cubbies, front desks to work from, a closet turned into transcription room once, a shared office with another secretary, but never a real office all to myself, with a WINDOW, OMG!!! One small glitch...there wasn't a computer yet. Hmmmm. How does a typist/secretary provided support when she has nothing to type on, nothing to research information on the internet with? THREE WEEKS LATER, after multiple notes and phone messages to the IT department literally begging for a computer, I was rewarded with one that had belonged to someone else, with many programs wiped from it. I kept having to re-invent the wheel the whole time I worked there, from not having access to documents to work from without completely retyping, but I plugged along - happily, I might add, the majority of the time.
It was my dream job. It didn't pay what I had asked for, but it was full time, and steady, and I LOVED WHAT I WAS DOING! The 'boss' had projects everywhere to work on, never a dull moment, a different task and challenge nearly every day, and my hours just flew by. I often stayed late just to hang out and be a part of what was happening. I felt needed, appreciated, competent and content.
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