January 8, 2016

Seriously, God, that’s about enough, ok?

It’s been a long day. Actually, a long week. A co-worker’s husband is ill. An acquaintance has chronic and debilitating pain. A friend tells me his wife’s cancer is back, and it’s bad. Another friend tells me there is pain and brokenness in her marriage. I’ve had my share of personal unsettledness over the last year. Some career burnout. Feeling numb and disengaged both at work and at home. I’ve done plenty of self-reflection and self-help. But after a point, that just...

January 5, 2016

Post Call Mom: Four

Four miles pre-call. Four hours rounding in the ICU. Four exhausted but VERY hard working residents. Four AMAZING NPs. Four surgeons in-house. Four traumas in quick succession. Twenty-four admissions. Four hours of sleep. Four cups of coffee. Four miles post-call. Four telemarketer calls. (No, I am not Sanjay. I don’t know who Sanjay is. I am not Sanjay’s wife/girlfriend/sister/mother/cousin. Yes, I know you are Sallie Mae. You sound very legitimate ma’am. As you did the first time you called me…four...

January 3, 2016

Top 3

In our family, we have a little tradition we simply call “Top 3”. This is a game we play, usually at dinner time, when I call out, “Tell me your ‘Top 3’ of….” vacation, Christmas, the weekend, whatever the most recent time or event is. I torture them with my little game on vacations and holidays. I secretly love the little groans and eye rolls I get when I yell out “Top 3”!! Bwah, hah, hah…. Last summer, when we...

January 1, 2016

Did today feel any different?

Yesterday, we all posted/blogged/tagged/tweeted and otherwise shouted out our excitement and hopes for 2016. “It’s gonna be a great year!” “Turning over a new leaf!” “The best year ever!” So here we are. January 1. Does it feel any different? Not really. Whatever magic we thought would happen overnight to make our lives instantly turn into some Pinterest worthy Norman Rockwell ideal, didn’t come through. The house remains messy. The kids remain loud. I remain tired. And you know, I...

December 29, 2015

Let’s laugh together…

Let’s laugh together. Let’s feed our kids leftovers for dinner. Again. Let’s be easy on ourselves. Yet take really, REALLY good care of ourselves. Let’s burn the cookies, forget about the laundry ’til it mildews and we have to run the washer again, and let’s leave the Christmas decorations up ’til February. Let’s share our worlds, our minds, our hearts. We are not alone. Let’s admit we are anxious, imperfect, scared. I experienced numbness. Then brokenness and healing. And now a...