Unfortunately in my profession new hires are considered the bottom of the food chain. We are the last ones to get called for available shifts, given the crappy shifts with other medics who are grumpy bumps and forced to fight amongst each other for seniority ranking in order to have a chance to one day successfully and skillfully acquire a contract. Most often it is only a couple of hours that separate one person from another on the seniority list, but those few hours really make a difference. Currently I am 5 from the bottom. There are many full-time contracts coming up within the next couple of months due to maternity leaves. Ideally, I should be eligible for one of these contracts...but I can't take time off or turn down shifts. I always have to have my cellphone handy in case I receive a phone call from one of the supervisors asking me to come into work. Now, this can be really annoying because these calls come at all hours of the day and night. I have been called in at 2am, 4am, half an hour after a shift has started....it never ceases to amaze me. This joyous factoid has made getting together with my friends and making plans extremely difficult. How am I supposed to be able to drive 1.5 hours to visit my friends, think about consuming alcoholic beverages, or make plans if at a moment's notice I have to come running back to work. I have had to back out of some really amazing plans at the last minute due to these wonderful call-ins. Whenever this happens I have to think to myself, "at least the money is amazing!"
Well, back to the "friends" topic. I have always considered my friends to be the family that I choose for myself and I don't let just anyone into my family. Being in a newish place without this circle of comfort and joy is very hard. I find myself without the time or opportunities to venture out on the town to try and make friends. Sure, there are work friends here, but no one who I have actually clicked on a deep spiritual level or even slightly considered including in my so-called "family." This past weekend I decided to book some time off work to spend an evening of bliss with my friends. I missed them all terribly and I was willing to take any repercussions by marking myself unavailable (it ended up being an okay thing though. Shifts have been few and far between lately).
My good friend Amy recently bought a home and joined the 1/4 century group on Saturday. We all went to her house for a house-warming and birthday get-together. It was great to see my friends. We did shots, laughed hysterically, ate delicious snacks and spent quality time together. It's times like these that keep me going. I was lucky enough to not get called into work on Sunday, so I took a road trip to Waterloo and spent some more quality time with two of my other great friends. I love my friends!
Here's some shots from the weekend.
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2 comments:
Y'all are a bunch of beautiful ladies! Looks like evry1 had fun! No blondes?
Finding the happy medium between work and your social life can be a hard thing to do. I'm sure that all you need is a bit of time to get everything in order and I'm sure your friends don't mind that you have to back out of things every so often. Have them come visit you if you feel back about making the trip to visit them only to back out. Is that an option?
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