Starting with the "few other life moments"
Spring has been immensely wet & cold this year.
Kathryn captured a little bit of what makes the wet and cold worth it
All from the front and back yard.
Mother's Day was wonderful. Kathryn worked to make it special.
Went for my usual Sunday swim. Came home to a French toast breakfast with strawberries cut in heart shapes. She was utterly relieved to see the French toast not only was edible, but quite good. We went for a walk on the beach and got ice cream. Followed w/ pizza from our local favorite restaurant. Bonus that the kids can walk there to pick up said pizza! 🍕
And oh my heart.....
Kathryn's card for me
💙 She's the gift 💙
Memorial Day 2022
2nd year the kids have spent with Korryn and Wayne, Thursday & Friday night on the boat. I join them on Saturday and stayed until Sunday. The weather - reflect back to what I first said in this blog post. 🌧
But still very fun amongst really nice people.
Pictured:
Salmon bake
Kathryn and the honorary lab (great picture of them!)
Kathryn with Kendall & Kailey - twins she met last year, but really got to know this year. They call themselves the triplets because they are all very similar in age. Were inseparable for the weekend and have been texting non-stop. Unfortunately they live about 35 minutes away.
Lastly, the line up of yachts. Zoom in for the red arrow pointing towards Korryn and Wayne's yacht.
First school concert in 2 years
Kathryn in choir
Ryan in orchestra
Ryan has been growing his hair for months with the goal to cut it in to a mullet.
That mullet happened yesterday. No pictures of it yet!
Kathryn, Lexi, Sophia, Addie
The first 3, friends since preschool
Much to my surprise, Kathryn's art was chosen for the concert brochure!
Ryan and his wooly mammoth hair. Some of the parents of children that have known him since preschool did not recognize him because he's been hiding all that hair under a baseball cap. Plus he's grown at least 2 inches this year.
﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏
Now, moving on to the end of an era. A new chapter in my life.
After 17 years at North Seattle Pediatrics, my time will soon be completed. For quite a few months now I've known that I need to step down from the nurse manager role. It takes up much of my off time and it's been incredibly hard since Covid hit. Constant frustration and anxiety that ultimately came to the decision of "I don't have to do this anymore. I can make a change, no matter how scary that might be".
Once my mind was made up I started looking at jobs at Seattle Children's Hospital in their ambulatory/outpatient clinics. My resume got immediate responses (that was encouraging!) from a few clinics. The first 3 interviews/clinics didn't work out for a variety of reasons. The 4th - The Pain Clinic (helping coordinate care for children that live with chronic pain) felt like a fit from the very beginning of the interview/hire process. After my 3rd interview for that particular clinic, a job offer came the next day. I accepted.
May 17th, 2022 I gave notice of resignation at NSP.
Highly emotional, lots of tears. However never doubting that I was making the right decision. Even if SCH isn't a fit long term, I'll find another work home. My last day at NSP is June 21st.
Took some time off and start at SCH July 5th, 2022.
A new chapter begins.
For Ryan and Kathryn:
If you're reading this many years down the road - here's my resume. I'm quite proud of my work history. I worked hard to get to this point.
My Cover Letter and Resignation letter
In addition to the jobs on my resume.... kids you might like to know before those jobs listed I was also a
Nurses Aid at Northwest Hospital while going to school for my LPN.
Nurses Aid at Foss Nursing Home - 3 blocks from where we live now.
Nurses Aid in training at Emerald Gardens Nursing Home in Breese, Illinois
Sales clerk at Walmart in Highland, Illinois
Lifeguard at Trenton Pool in Trenton, Illinois for two summers (one of my favorite jobs!)
"Coat Puller" at Jim's Formal Wear Factory in Trenton, Illinois (pulled tuxedo coats to fill tuxedo orders) - most BORING job ever and with that job it proved to me that getting an education post high school was a must. I could not do factory work forever. That was a short term job.
And besides babysitting, my first official job was a dishwasher at Trenton House restaurant in Trenton, Illinois. I made $2.85/hr. Lower than minimum wage because they called it "student wage". I moved from dishwasher to food prep for the smorgasbord. Honestly, it was a great first job.
That completes this blog post.
Up next: 6th annual Jim Creek Camping, start my new job, Seaside (a week after starting the new job - not ideal timing but it's how it worked out) and continuing to start over in my career.
