Flashback Friday: 1st job

In June 1980, I was too old for Vacation Bible School, but my sister was still in the program. And since my mother was the coordinator, I was placed on Refreshment Detail. Every day for a week, the other ladies and I arranged the cookies, snack cakes, fruit, and various Kool-Aids on trays and took them around to the various classes. Afterwards, there were milk jugs, pitchers, and trays to wash and check to make sure the church kitchen was spotless before we left.

The week afterward, I was bored. We lived too far away from town to bike anywhere, and both my sis and I had long outgrown our childhood pool, now donated to a neighbor with small kids. Mom was still finishing up her final report at work, so she went to her office until noon every day. The third day, she came home with some news for me.

"The hospital is offering Candy Striper training tomorrow; would you be interested?"

Are you kidding me? I loved my Cherry Ames mysteries, and though I was squeamish about really sick patients, I loved the idea of doing anything rather than being stuck in the house all summer long. So in the morning, Mom dropped me off at the hospital and my sister at the neighbor's.

I made an instant friend; we both had gotten 'bit' by the manual credit card machine, and learned we both wanted to work in Pediatrics. I also liked Physical Therapy. When it came time for our assignments, I learned Peds was full; they only needed someone on Saturdays. I was chosen to work in PT every Wednesday, and instructed to 'play' on the various machines when not remaking the therapy beds or cleaning the whirlpool machine. Apparently the last Candy Striper had a habit of hanging out in the waiting room and reading the magazines.

I got to demonstrate how to use crutches; the interns 'practiced' on me, teaching me how to go up and down stairs, and how to hobble around in general. I probably built up my calf muscles during this time, as I spent most of my time on an exercise bike.

One Saturday in Peds, I had an actual patient. We played board games, watched TV, and talked during my shift. The other Saturdays, I spent wandering up and down the halls, reading in the playroom, and wishing the nurses would invent something for me to do.

This was also the first time I ever stood up to my mom and won. The other hospital in town put out the call for volunteers, and since it was the hospital where Mom was well known, she signed me up for training there too, before I was placed at the other one. But after their boring, two-day training session, where day #1 was spent going over the manual (yawn) and day #2 teaching me the same things I'd already learned the week before, I informed my mother I liked the other hospital better; the people were friendlier, and the other kids in my 2nd class had been rather snobby, unlike the previous week. Mom let me stay at the first hospital.

And no, nothing 'mysterious' ever happened. It showed me I was definitely not cut out to be a nurse like my mom, but it at least made me feel important in my red and white striped uniform, and I did prove to be a good helper in the PT room:)

Spouse Update:
I lost my temper on FaceBook on Wednesday. I rarily blow my stack in such a public forum, but this time I felt justified. There's only so much 'Poor Me' I can take!

Anyway, we drove to Evansville yesterday, and his scar tissue was lazered down. Now we wait until the 22nd, when he gets his eyeglass prescription, and then he gets to go back to work! The bad news? His unemployment runs out that same week. Congress now has two weeks to pass some sort of extension...you hear me, Brad Ellsworth? We only need a few more weeks....

Tomorrow!
Bookmarks have been ordered; brochures made of various excerpts by myself and four other Laptop Society members; labels ordered for the Smarties and promo items; I've purchased six hand lotions, four hand sanitizers, and ten body mist sprays in four different scents. Later today I'll go pick up everything plus the Smarties. Hopefully the shelves for the display will be made too. I'll collect my tables, tote, and rolley cart from storage; put everything in the van, since I have to be there at 7:30 am; buy some ice for a cooler; put together some sandwiches and a container of sweet tea; and get a good night's sleep. I'll report on Monday, plus maybe have pictures, if I can borrow daughter's camera.

Have a good weekend!