12/12/2023
This morning it struck me - 54 years ago this month I took my nursing boards in San Francisco, a timid 20-year-old girl from LaSalle MI. My decision to move to CA, St. Helena, was spurred on not only because my best friends at the time, the Brueske's, lived there, but primarily, because I wanted to get as far away from Michigan as possible (my grandfather was still telling me to watch for cars when I crossed the road to get the mail!). And so, my nursing career began . . . I guess it is now appropriate for it to end in, more or less, the same place.
Since my surgery, I have accepted three assignments, basically to "prove" I could still do it, but truth be told, to deny my current situation. Tomorrow I was supposed to just give an injection - no big deal and for $200/injection, why not, right? As I sat in my chair with tremors hitting me hard last evening, I wondered if I could even draw up the medication, let alone keep my balance while I was giving it. Not an easy decision, but I knew what I had to do . . . I resigned. They immediately responded with the sweetest, kindest words anyone has ever said to me regarding my work in all of these 54 years which made the sting a bit less painful.
Today is another day, a clean slate, to do whatever it is with the remainder of this one precious life. As I work on JOYFOOD, tears are hitting my keyboard, but I know in my heart, all will be well.
Again, my heartfelt thanks to all of you who have so kindly and endlessly supported me during the most traumatic year of my life. 💕💕🙏🙏💕💕
