Hospice Nurse as Travel Agent

I have been going through some of my old posts this week. I guess you may have noticed that. I was trying to decide which post I thought was most important, of which post was I most proud. I think it is the one comparing working as a hospice nurse to working as a travel agent.  I wrote it in January of 2012. Currently I am not working as a hospice nurse but I am so grateful for that experience. This post helps me remember some of my feelings about that work.

Anyway, the following post is the winner (I am the only judge and my blog was the only entrant) of my "best post" contest. 

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My Life as a Travel Agent

On a recent morning I was at work and as one of my patients was waiting for his death. I thought again about an idea that keeps popping into my head...the thought that I am now some sort of a travel agent, someone who's main job is to assist travelers as they prepare for a big, big trip.

My patient, thanks to good medications, was reaching a level of comfort.  He knew it was almost time for his departure.  His daughter was by his side.  She wasn't going with him but she wanted to wait with him until it was time for him to go.  She was sad because she knew she was going to miss him, but she was happy for him because she knew he was going somewhere very lovely and exciting.  Although she couldn't travel with him at this time, she expected to join him at a later date.  

Together, they waited and waited and waited.  It reminded me of a train station.  I don't think in terms of the grim reaper or anything like that.  I was thinking of an elegant train that was coming and he was the only passenger at our station who was waiting to board at that time.  The station seemed pretty empty to me, but our traveler reported there were "a lot of people" present.  Just because I did not see them does not mean they were not there.

Although this traveler was originally reluctant to make this trip, as the train approached, he was ready.  In fact, I think maybe his mother was already on that train, coming to escort him to his destination.  I think this because he thought he saw her; he was watching for her.

His daughter left the room for a few minutes.  It wasn't long before I saw the train coming, I could hear it, I could see it, I could almost feel the ground trembling... almost.  I stepped away from our traveler for just a few moments to summon her so she could hug him good-bye.   I knew it was important to her to be present when he climbed aboard.  I could see pain in her eyes but she smiled as she approached him and held his hand.  She did not try to stop him from going.  Her husband joined her for the send-off and they were ready to say good-bye.  When they reassured me they were prepared, I quietly left their side.

When I returned, the train was just pulling out from the station.  The traveler's daughter was crying and smiling at the same time.  Her husband held her close.  It was quiet.  It was peaceful.  We all felt we'd just been very close to something amazing, something we could not yet fully understand.  

What Kind of Blog is This, Anyway?!

Admit it, that question crossed your mind, didn't it?

Perhaps you first came upon my blog when you were looking for a quick but delicious cookie recipe. The next time you stopped by you maybe happened upon one of my Movie Reviews.

Sometimes I'm talking about matters of faith or even featuring one of my husband's sermons,  but the next thing you know I'm telling you to get a colonoscopy.  I may be confessing dumb things or doing the world's worst tutorial. I've posted on things from birth to death. I post everyday but you really can't count on a particular theme from me on any given day.

When I look around at other blogs I find some that have cooking themes, some devoted totally to crocheting, others that are all about spirituality. There are people who seem to have an endless supply of tutorials, recipes, etc. I follow some of those blogs. They are kind of cool. Mine, though, just isn't like that.

For awhile, I worried about this. I thought I should pick a theme and go with it. I never settled into it, though. I just kept flitting around from topic to topic. When people ask me what my blog is about, I don't really know what to say.

I guess my blog is just about life. Sometimes life is routine, sometimes it is extraordinary. Sometimes the routine IS extraordinary.  Those are the best days!

Praying for a Stranger

Recently I wrote a post about making Prayer Monkey Hats for a co-worker's unborn twin grandsons.  I finished them, along with several other hats for other orders this week.  I've been working on them in the evenings after a day at work.   As a nurse, I am on my feet the entire day but this is a sitting down job, and I enjoy doing them so much, it doesn't feel like work at all.    I thought maybe you'd like to see how the monkeys turned out.

I received some nice comments on that post, most from followers I "know".  I love reading those!  I also received a comment from a woman in the UK that found my blog by accident that day.  She left a nice comment and also an invitation to join her today on a mission.  She is holding a blog hop, today.  It is different than most as it is really a giant prayer chain.

This prayer chain is on behalf of her friend, Kerry, shown in these photos.  Kerry is a mother and blogger who suffered a ruptured aneurysm and brain hemorrhage.  Her husband is now posting on her blog in her place.

Today, we (me and my readers) are invited to join the blog hop of prayer, praying for the recovery of this young woman.  We are praying for her return to her home and her family.  Anyone who has been around a patient suffering from this type of brain injury knows that the path she is on is difficult and challenging, not only for her but also for her family.

 So, today I am praying for Kerry.  I am praying that she will be able to fight off infection.  I am praying she will be able to work through the exhaustion and confusion and find her way back to her life. I am praying for the healthcare workers surrounding her, for their skill and wisdom as they support her recovery.  Perhaps you'd like to join in on this big prayer as well?

My Confessions

Our daughter, Maria, has started occasionally doing a post on her Confessions.  It may not be what you are thinking, but it is fun to read.  In fact, take a second right now to click on the link above and read what she has to say.  


Today, Maria invited others to try confessing.  I've heard confessing is good for the soul so I decided to give it a go as well.


Actually, I'm remembering that I've done a post on Confessions of a Pastor's Wife.  You are welcome to click and read it as well.  It's not the same as Maria's Confessions post, though.  Her's have bullet points!  I love, love bullet points!


So, following the lead from Little Things are Big, here is my list for today:

• I, too, have some double jointed toes.  I am also pedi-dexterous and I'm very proud to have passed those genetics on.  What this means is I often pick things up with my toes.  It is quite handy, really.  I hook my big toes together when relaxing.  This creeps Mike out, making it all the more satisfying.
• I don't sing in the shower either.  I do sing and hum a lot of other times, though, often without realizing it.  I used to try to stop myself but then I asked, "Why?"  I hum at work all the time.
• As a kid I once noticed a lady who had a tic that caused her to twitch her nose frequently (upward, not side to side like on Bewitched).  Apparently I was fascinated by it and tried it out a few times.  THEN, it became a bit of an uncontrollable habit for me!  Who knew that nose-twitching was habit-forming?  I am now cured but don't ask me to show you because I'm afraid I could backslide.
• I love interesting teeth, but with the common use of braces now days, they are rare.  I have straight teeth, never needed braces.  I always admired people who had teeth with a bit of an overlap or maybe eye teeth that protruded just enough to give their lips an interesting shape.  Today's teeth bore me.
• I love eating hotdogs cold, straight from the package.
• I always wanted freckles but with my olive complexion I found it was not to be... until NOW!  I am developing freckles on my hands and I'm so happy!  (If you want to be my friend you will not say mean words like liver spots or age spots.)
• I always wanted to be a redhead.  Again, it wasn't for me.  I was really proud, though, when Mike and I produced a redheaded child.
• I am too proud of the fact that I can crochet like the wind.
• Sometimes I crochet to avoid doing things I don't want to do, like cleaning the bathroom.

OK, That's 10 confessions!  I am exhausted but I think I do feel a bit better for having told you these things.  Want to try it?   If you are a blogger, try a Confessions post.  It would be nice if you linked it back to Maria's blog, Little Things are Big.  Hey, let's make it a blog hop!  Click below where it says Click Here to Enter and you can join the hop.

If you are not a blogger, you most certainly are invited to air out your soul by "commenting" your confessions right here and now.  

I Just Can't Help Myself

I don't think the above photo has anything to do with this post.  However, I don't really know what this post is about so maybe it does.  Let me explain...

Sometimes I start a post on a certain topic but I don't finish it for one reason or another. Maybe I thought of something else I wanted to discuss or perhaps I just got bored with it and decided to come back to it when I was more enthused.  Those posts get saved as drafts and now and then I go back and finish finish my thoughts.

As I was just looking through some of those drafts I found one titled, "I Just Can't Help Myself" but I couldn't remember what it was about.  I clicked on it and as it turns out, it was a title only.  For the life of me, I can't think of what I had in mind when I wrote that title.

So, now I have a bright idea.  I happen to know that quite a few of my readers do not write their own blogs.  How do you feel about helping me with this post?  Are you feeling creative today?  I really could use some assistance.  So, use your imagination and make up a post to fit the title.  It can be a nonsense post, you could choose to go with humor or you could write something serious.  You can write it about yourself or you can write about what you think it is that I can't help myself over.  Just put it in the "comments" section below.  Come on; it could be fun!  You know your inner writer wants to do this.

A Novice No More

Guess What?!  I just learned to take photos of myself with my new Acer Iconia Tablet!  Also, I just figured out how to transfer them to my wounded laptop.  For you younger readers, you probably think I should've instinctively known how to do that, huh?  But I am middle-aged and for my readers who are in that category, you know exactly how proud I am of myself at this moment, don't you?  


And, as I decided this was a reasonably good hair day, I just kept taking more 

and more

photos of

myself!  


OK, enough of that!  


I am celebrating!


I have been blogging for a year!  Actually, I just missed my anniversary.  I was thinking it was coming up but I just checked back to my first post and it was February 20, 2011.   It was kind of a strange post, but I just sat down and started blogging about what was going on that evening.  Truthfully, I didn't think I would keep up with it all.  

At first I didn't want my name to be attached to my blog.  I went by Orange Paisley.  Funny, huh?  Well, I like orange, I like paisley, and together they just seem like me.  It made sense to me at the time.

According to my stats, my all-time most read post was A Change of Heart.  That was my recent interview with my friend, Allen, who received a heart transplant.  I was kind of pleased with myself for the title choice but Allen was responsible for the rest of the article.  Thanks, Allen!

My second most popular post was Breath of God.  I've no real good explanation for that but it makes me happy.  Again, I had very little to do with that one as it is the lyrics to a song that I did not write.  I did not even come up with the title!  See how easy it is to be a blogger?

When I started my blog I didn't really tell anyone except Maria.  She was the one who introduced me to blogging and she was the first to leave a comment for me, followed by Momma CupKate.  Thanks, Kate!  It was quite awhile before I even told Mike I was doing this!

Looking back, I can see how Cordelia has grown and that we've made some progress with Bode.  I've told embarrassing stories and introduced you to members of my family.  I have asked you to help me name my craft room and even drug you through a terrible tutorial.  

I don't have any good explanation for why I have kept up with blogging.  I was horrible at keeping up with my children's baby books, I can't seem to put photos into albums, I still haven't done Christmas Cards from 2011 and I have projects tucked all over the house that I've not completed.  I do love working on my computer and I love to write, though, so maybe I've finally found my "thing". I no longer fall asleep at night wondering if I'll have anything to write about the next day.  I just enjoy writing this blog.  Thanks for checking in and reading it!

Thank-you for stopping by. Feel free to use my photos but please link them back to my blog. I am honored if you wish to share content of any of my posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc. as long as it is linked back to my blog.

Movie Matinee

I've been wanting to see "The Help" for awhile now.

When Mike and I were on our little vacation in Montana we had planned to go to two movies.  I voted to see the one he wanted first, thinking we'd save my choice for the last day.  It all goes along with one of my life-long plans of "saving the best for the last".  I don't know why I keep planning my life that way.  Religiously speaking, it is what I expect of course, saving heaven for last.  However, in this world it has not worked out the best for me.  Remember the underwear story?  In Montana we saw Apollo 18, which was rather forgettable, and had something else going on and did not go back to see "The Help".

I also try the "saving the best for the last" all too often when eating potato chips.
In case you aren't aware of this, some potato chips are better than others.  It is such a joy to eat a chip that isn't already broken!  I especially like large chips that are folded over.  They crunch the best.  Equally good are the ones with just a gentle curl to them that kind of fits right over your tongue.  Saving those for the last is a great plan when I am eating alone.  However, when Mike is nearby it is risky.  He thinks it is pretty funny to come by and snatch one of those dandies just before I get to it!

Oh man, I've gone off-track, huh?

....so my friend, Donna, asked if I'd want to go see "The Help" with her yesterday.  I was excited!  I was waiting out front when Donna arrived.  She graciously allowed me to take a picture of her sweet face.  I just think she has a great smile and a face that really lets her beautiful sense of joy shine out.

The movie was wonderful.  You've probably already seen it, huh?

It was a story that needed to be written.  Having said  that, I'd have to agree with reviewers I'd read who said it kind of wrapped everything up in a pleasant kind of package to achieve a happy ending.  I didn't care about that so much; I actually appreciated it a bit.  I also appreciate any movie that reminds us where we've been in this country regarding racial issues.  Hopefully in the remembering we can better avoid going down that horrible road again.  In fact, I wonder why we even use the term "race".  Aren't we the human race?  Maybe we should just say "ethnicity issues" or  "skin tone" issues.  I just don't think "race" is quite the right word when what we are really talking about is the amount of melanin present. 

It did seem that there were some parts of "The Help" that didn't really contribute much to the movie, such as the main character's Mom making reference to new treatments for girls who have unatural attractions to other girls.  I kind of got the feeling they were making fun of Biblical references and making some sort of comparison to bigotry based on skin color.  I'm not sure about that and since it was just a blip in the plot I'll move on.

The movie somehow managed to make us laugh and cry, all while considering one of the darkest stains on our country.  The acting was great!  I particularly enjoyed watching Ron Howard's daughter, Bryce Howard, play the part of the person you most want to dislike.  She's a pretty versatile actress!

The thing that made me most happy, though, were the previews.  I'm not kidding!  I don't know that I've EVER watched previews and wanted to attend ALL of them.  Did you all see Fireproof?  Well, the makers of Fireproof have another one coming out.  I've forgotten the name but it is about Dads becoming better fathers.  All of the previews were about movies that seemed to have something important and good to say.

Maybe there is hope for the film industry after all.

And on to another issue...

Maria (daughter) and I have been busy preparing for Fall at our Etsy shop, Wyoming Rose Boutique.  Also, we are going to do our first craft sale on September 24!  We're kind of excited about that.  We've decided to discontinue our shop blog, though.  Our plan is to just occasionally give shop info on our personal blogs.  Maria had the idea of doing some tutorials also.  I think that will be fun!  In fact, Maria 

posted a great tutorial yesterday.  Check it out!  And while you are there, browse around.  She has the greatest blog EVER!  She loves new followers as well!

Have a great week-end!

Nutty New Friends

Well, besides starting a blog, I also decided to dabble in the world of Twitter.  It is a strange world there my friends!  You have to become adept at one-liners.  I wanted to do it to see if I could get more people to check out our Wyoming Rose Boutique.  I didn't really understand how it worked.  I thought I'd just write a line and the whole world would see it.  Aren't I sweetly naive?

Let me tell you what I've learned.  Yes, you can just type your one-liner and send it off, but likely no one will see it.  What you have to do is build up "followers".  To do that, you click to become followers of others and hope they follow back.  It sure seems like a strange way to make friends, huh?  And I thought Facebook was odd!

I found that close to 1/3 of the people I chose to follow would follow back.  Sometimes, as I read more of their "tweets" I had to, unfortunately, "unfollow" a few.  I try to not be a judgmental prude but I have my limits.

 There is a whole Twitter Language that I'm just beginning to learn.  Tweets are what the little one-liners are called.  The act of tweeting can also be called twittering, I think.  And it seems that those who follow you on Twitter are your "Tweeps".  If a "Tweep" "unfollows" you, it is heartbreaking.  You feel rejected.  It's a lot like when a friend in junior high decides they don't want to sit by you at lunch anymore.  But, you move on and just "follow" someone else.  Keep up with me on this stuff if you can.

Every now and then I find some really nice and interesting people.  Through their Twitter Profile (oh yes, I have so much more to teach you) you can click on through to see their blogs.  Some are trying to sell things but I politely take a look since really, that's what mine is as well.  However, I find some real gems among it all.  I'm following some delightful blogs now.  It seems strange to read about the lives of people I've not really met I suppose, but I find it more heart-warming than reading about the lives of celebrities and such.  I actually feel a bit more hopeful for our world. 

For non-Twitterers, here is what a Twitter Profile looks like...

The Nutter Sisters

@thenuttersister Shhh...she's napping.

Humorous Blog: Three sisters share a compulsion to reveal family secrets by way of clever entertaining stories. Enjoy! ~Helen

http://www.thenuttersisters.com

When you click on the link you go right to the blog of the profilees.  This is the blog

I want to introduce you to today.  I was drawn to it immediately because it made me laugh out loud!  I love to laugh!  Who doesn't?  This blog is written by 3 sisters.  You can actually pick up on their love and support of each other between the lines.  They are very, very funny.  I read part of one of their posts to Mike.  It was advice for women on how to manage the "man cold".  My man, of course, is not a bad patient.  I've heard, though, that some men are pretty mopey when ill.  Anyway, perhaps their blog is best read by women because when I read it to Mike, he told me they were "heartless shrews" and forbid me to read it again.  That of course, makes it all the more delicious!  You can find these ladies at http://www.thenuttersisters.com/ but please finish reading the rest of this post before you run off.

These ladies not only followed me back on Twitter but they checked out http://www.etsy.com/shop/wyomingrose and said nice things about it.  They offered to do an ad for us on their site!  AND, they aren't charging us for the ad!  Lots of sites charge pretty steep fees if you want to advertise on their blog.  I asked about a charge and there is none.  Here is the latest tweet from them: 

"It's so wonderful when nice people support nice people! Makes the world a happier place. :)"

I'd already planned to tell you about their site in a post, just because I liked it.  Now, I know they are not just funny but also quite sweet.  Please, take a look at their blog and click on "follow" if you enjoy it as much as I did!   http://www.thenuttersisters.com/