Work hard and play hard: this has been my motto since last August when I started working with the intensity of one who knows her time limit will arrive sooner or later. I would work without sleeping for a couple or a few days before collapsing from fatigue for a few hours, only to rouse myself to complete more rounds of work with the old folks. In the end, it was all worth it, for I achieved my goal of making money and remaining flexible to travel as I pleased.
February, March and April all blur into one, except for the birth of my nephew (see last entry). But May was the calm before the storm—the tornado of June’s ceaseless shifts and sleepless days and nights and July’s tempest of emotional goodbyes and back-to-back double shifts. I cannot believe that I am already beginning a new chapter.
On Memorial Day weekend, I was fortunate to take a trip to California to visit a dear friend, Lisa, from high school and to meet up with two friends from college, Esther and Sindy, for a weekend at northern California’s Lake Tahoe and Napa Valley. We had a grand time braving the whipping cold of Tahoe’s unpredictable shores and tasting the seductive wines of Chateau Montelina, one of Napa’s finest wineries renowned for its world-winning 1974 Chardonnay.
In June, after 19 days of working ridiculously long hours at the nursing home, I took a break to engage in some soulful reflection at a Christian leadership conference in Alexandria, LA. Time with believers in Jesus and inspirational men and women of God was like a balm to my aching body. Following the conference, I took a road trip to Colorado with a friend from high school, Kyle, to visit some friends and help him pick a place for his move in July. Colorado was another great trip that reminded me of the blessing of my CNA work.
July was flurry of excitement as I co-planned a going away party for myself in Chicago, saw my cousin get married, worked 170 hours in 15 days, visited my older sister Genna, packed for nearly 17 months of travel, said goodbye to family and friends, took a road trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway, and enjoyed the sights and sounds of Manhattan. What a month! What a year!
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