Spring ...!

Officially, it's the first day of Spring today!  Facebook reports from Pittsboro tell me that the redbuds are blooming, and dogwood not too far behind.   Here in Deep Gap I believe it'll probably be another couple weeks to a month until we get really visible signs,  although the buds are swelling, and we've had a big  influx of robins....(now that I can see them up closer I find that they're much bigger birds than I realized!).

Yesterday was my first full day at the Hospital.  In Medical Records I got to do exciting things like remove staples from ER reports, prior to them being photocopies for charts, and separate medical reports and discharge records by physician name, seal them up into envelopes, and poke the envelopes into the different doctors mailboxes.  All around me there was constant activity and conversation (how do all these women get much done, with all the talking going on?) as the clerks went about their daily routines.  I am always amazed at the amounts of paper involved in record-keeping.  How many times is each sheet handled by someone, one w onders?  Are they usually looked at again, once they're filed?  Where might they store all the files, once people are discharged?  Or do they keep hard copies?  hmmmmmm......lots of things to find out.

Then I had lunch in the cafeteria - a small cup of chili, some broccoli and some fried zucchini, and went over to the gift shop for the afternoon shift.  Once again, busy enough to not be bored, but not too busy.  The past few weeks haven't brought much new or interesting merchandise (probably fortunate, for my wallet's sake!) - I guess fall/winter/christmas is probably the biggest time for the shop.  Maybe our economic downturn is affecting it all too?

There was a small drama in the afternoon, when an attractive youngish woman came in, asked where her friend was, and when she didn't see him, angrily deposited  his bag and jacket at the reception desk out front, and stormed out saying she had to drive to Raleigh to meet the body and didn't have time to wait for him.   About five minutes later the guy appeared, having gone to the restroom or something, and learned he'd been abandoned.  It seems that he had flown over from NYC to support her as her grandmother was dying, and now he was left  in a strange town .   The ladies at reception and I tried to help him sort out his situation, and he made a lot of calls on his cell phone.  I don't know what finally developed with it - when I left just after 5:00 he was (temporarily?) gone from the lobby.  I really hated to leave with no resolution to things, and just hope  he worked something out.   [But of course he did - something - I just don't know what.]  

 Imagine abandoning someone who made a special trip to support you, in a strange city/state, that way!  Sheesh.....he'd been hanging around all afternoon waiting for her - even if she was distraught about her grandmother, seems like she could have waited a few minutes...

People are amazing!

A good Thursday, and another change...

Had a positive visit with the dentist this morning - no new work needing to be done - hooray!   Then wandered around Big Lots for a while, picking up a few cleaning supplies.  The store is all loaded up with Easter decorations and goodies, outdoor furniture and gardening supplies (makes me think about Easter in Minnesota - we'd get new outfits to wear to church for easter, and more than likely the weather would be frigid and snowy, so we'd stand around shivering in our new spring clothes).   The afternoon at the hospital gift shop was just busy enough to keep things from being boring, and quiet enough to work on a crossword puzzle when no one was there, so that was fun.  The new development with my volunteering activities, in addition to the gift shop and Linus Blanket/baby hat knitting group, is that starting next week I will be in medical records on Thursday mornings, doing clerical work of some sort.  ( Who knows, maybe this might eventually open up a chance for some actual paid work there in the future?)

Our brief and wonderful springtime has made a retreat;  it's cold out again, and the forecast is calling for snow tonight.  We'll see what actually materializes, so far there's nothing.

And so to bed.....

A big milestone

Well, I seem to have crossed over yet another threshold, and while the step was quite effortless at the time, the impact is definitely lingering and growing.  Tuesday evening after yet another discussion with Bruce about it, we decided that I should go ahead and apply to begin collecting Social Security.  An everyday occurrence in our world, but to have it actually be in my own personal life, and to me - amazing!!  Still trying to wrap my mind around it....