OK.......stress comes out in different people in different ways.....even when you all live in the same household! Today my wife made a delicious dinner for us all in the early afternoon. After we did most of our packing into the truck, we all sat down for a nice dinner. Well; the complaints were going around the table like a waterman after crabs. My potato is hard; do I have to eat broccoli?; Why didn't you make mashed? Which led to me asking others to please not have any complaints for the rest of the meal. This lasted.........until they opened their mouths again. It was beginning to now annoy my wife. Her voice raised up a couple of decibels, which for some reason my eldest daughter thinks she must raise her voice a couple of decibels also. I asked her to please lower her voice,( and you know I did it in a very controlled, gentle, and calm manner..........:)), she became very upset with herself, not realizing that she offered up a complaint after we had just discussed not complaining. The melee that followed was nothing short of comical. "You #$%@#*#...idiot!", she said. I'm glad that all she had in her hand at that moment was a half of a potato. Had it been something hard, I'm not sure I would be here today typing this thing! WELL!, what to do next, I thought. She loses her temper like this so rarely that it's difficult to not laugh. Yes she needs to be directed to a better way of expressing herself. Yes I was shocked as I was pulling potato out of my ear. Most of all I knew that, YES, she felt embarrassed or ashamed of losing her cool in such a way. She went outside. I could not really control the laughter as I looked next to me at my redheaded daughter eating her meal with pieces of potato in her hair. She seemed unfazed by the whole thing! Michael went after his sister to make sure she was OK. He came back and refused to say where she was but only that she was safe and did not know how she could possibly apologize for doing such a thing. To this, I informed him privately to go back to his sister and tell her that Mr. Potato head would like to speak with her. I know my daughter well enough to realize that this would bring a grin to her face. While she may make mistakes in life, (like all of us), it really doesn't take her long to humble herself and own up to her faults. She did return with Michael and came in the house with a humble spirit. At first I wasn't sure whether she came back to place a dollop of sourcream on the top of my head and sprinkle it with bacon bits, or to just apologize. She quickly took responsibility and admitted she had no idea why she threw it at me, "'Cause you didn't even do anything!" she said. I knew this....but it was nice to hear her say this too. My mother said something to me once that has always stayed with me. " If I could give you one thing Dan it would be the ability to see yourself as others see you; then you would know what a truly wonderful person you are". I still struggle with believing this. I do not however struggle with wanting to express this very same sentiment to each of my own children. Hmmmm......interesting.
This was some afternoon. I dare say I probably won't have another one quite like it. As I type, I have a moderate amount of confidence that these types of "messy" scenarios take place in most families out there. I take delight in knowing that I am loved just as I am by my wife and children. I want to foster the same kind of acceptance of one another between the children as well as they grow into adulthood. We are not the perfect family. We do love one another. The home is the place to learn to behave properly. It is our training ground. I love it!! I give each of my children permission to screw up daily. That is how we learn. Practice, practice, practice. For the most part we are loving the learning process. It is quite.............. the education!
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Saturday, August 14, 2004
Here we go again!........
WE are heading back to Virginia. I will be working at the same place I worked before. If you read my earlier posts you can learn a little about the people there. As we are about to leave Maryland, my wife commented that I haven't written much about my work here in MD. Well, I guess that says something right there! It has not been the best assignment ever. The hospital is in disrepair. They are currently working on the unit I am on so that means we only have 18 beds. This bodes well for our nurse to patient ratio. I DO like that! However everything is in such disarray that it is difficult to find things. They also have been floating me to other floors which makes it difficult because I can't find stuff on the other floors either because I've never been there! Enough complaining. The people here have been nice to me. I have been doing rotating shifts. Mostly days but some nights. I have rather enjoyed the night shifts here...... In moderation! I live about 25 miles from the hospital so it makes for a tough ride home. I almost fall asleep everytime! It is much more peaceful at night. The night staff are very laid back and I like that. The tough time is between 3 and 5am. Just stay awake is what I tell myself. I started working at the same time as 2 other travelers. One is Mary. This is her first travel assignment. If I may say so........ SHE IS KOOKOO!!! I mean that in the best way possible.... It seems like everything always happens to Mary. She is constantly facing crises with her patients. I believe the only thing all the different patients had in common ...............was Mary! I do my best to keep my distance as I could easily get sucked in to the negativity. The other one I started with was Sharlene. She seems like a nice woman. She is a jehovah's witness. I think she's new to their religion. My understanding of the scriptures comes from personal study for the past 19 years. I can say without a doubt that Jehovah's witnesses are not witnesses of the true God named Jehovah. I hate that they call themselves that because true believers are the ones who are a witness to God. Their beliefs are unscriptural to say the least. Anyways.... I had quite the discussion with her the other night that caused her to pull out her own bible that was printed by the watchtower society. I hope that the things I said will cause her to read the bible honestly, and hopefully come to know our one true creator in heaven. As far as the other people I work with, they all seem nice but perhaps I have just not allowed myself to get too close with anyone? I'm not sure why. I do enjoy kibbitsing with Brian and Bridget. They are the heart monitor techs. Brians last name is jones and bridget's is smith. I keep tellin them to get married and then she could write Bridget Jones diary! To which she tells me with that southern drawl, "Dan....you craaazy". Brian is a young 19 year old full of life. He can't drive right now because he has a bazillion speeding tickets. I look at him and forget that I am so old, I could be his father!! I still think I am a young guy. I just turned 41!! That is scary. I remember being 19. It was a few months back! Well, I think I'll stop writing for now.
On a more personal note; I got a birthday card from my sister the other day. I was lying in my bed relaxing, not really thinking about much as I do many times. I opened it, and must tell you that it brought tears to my eyes. It was such a blessing to read the sweet words she had to say to me. I love that woman!! She reminds me so much of our mother. She has a big heart. Her hubby is one blessed man. Thank you shosh!
WE are heading back to Virginia. I will be working at the same place I worked before. If you read my earlier posts you can learn a little about the people there. As we are about to leave Maryland, my wife commented that I haven't written much about my work here in MD. Well, I guess that says something right there! It has not been the best assignment ever. The hospital is in disrepair. They are currently working on the unit I am on so that means we only have 18 beds. This bodes well for our nurse to patient ratio. I DO like that! However everything is in such disarray that it is difficult to find things. They also have been floating me to other floors which makes it difficult because I can't find stuff on the other floors either because I've never been there! Enough complaining. The people here have been nice to me. I have been doing rotating shifts. Mostly days but some nights. I have rather enjoyed the night shifts here...... In moderation! I live about 25 miles from the hospital so it makes for a tough ride home. I almost fall asleep everytime! It is much more peaceful at night. The night staff are very laid back and I like that. The tough time is between 3 and 5am. Just stay awake is what I tell myself. I started working at the same time as 2 other travelers. One is Mary. This is her first travel assignment. If I may say so........ SHE IS KOOKOO!!! I mean that in the best way possible.... It seems like everything always happens to Mary. She is constantly facing crises with her patients. I believe the only thing all the different patients had in common ...............was Mary! I do my best to keep my distance as I could easily get sucked in to the negativity. The other one I started with was Sharlene. She seems like a nice woman. She is a jehovah's witness. I think she's new to their religion. My understanding of the scriptures comes from personal study for the past 19 years. I can say without a doubt that Jehovah's witnesses are not witnesses of the true God named Jehovah. I hate that they call themselves that because true believers are the ones who are a witness to God. Their beliefs are unscriptural to say the least. Anyways.... I had quite the discussion with her the other night that caused her to pull out her own bible that was printed by the watchtower society. I hope that the things I said will cause her to read the bible honestly, and hopefully come to know our one true creator in heaven. As far as the other people I work with, they all seem nice but perhaps I have just not allowed myself to get too close with anyone? I'm not sure why. I do enjoy kibbitsing with Brian and Bridget. They are the heart monitor techs. Brians last name is jones and bridget's is smith. I keep tellin them to get married and then she could write Bridget Jones diary! To which she tells me with that southern drawl, "Dan....you craaazy". Brian is a young 19 year old full of life. He can't drive right now because he has a bazillion speeding tickets. I look at him and forget that I am so old, I could be his father!! I still think I am a young guy. I just turned 41!! That is scary. I remember being 19. It was a few months back! Well, I think I'll stop writing for now.
On a more personal note; I got a birthday card from my sister the other day. I was lying in my bed relaxing, not really thinking about much as I do many times. I opened it, and must tell you that it brought tears to my eyes. It was such a blessing to read the sweet words she had to say to me. I love that woman!! She reminds me so much of our mother. She has a big heart. Her hubby is one blessed man. Thank you shosh!
