So Blessed

Have you ever had one of those days (or a series of days) when you just feel like everything is right with the world and everything is in place and you just feel blessed?  I’ve been feeling that way quite a bit lately.  And I gotta say, I like it!  It’s a truly wonderful feeling.  It’s not any big event that triggered the feeling… no specific reason for being so happy.  It just feels like I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to be doing and that is paying off.  God is providing for my needs wonderfully… and lately a lot of my wants, too.  I’m surrounded by a wonderful family and group of friends.  I have a career that I can’t imagine giving up.  I’m lucky and happy to actually have a job in this unstable economic environment.  So the fact it’s a job I truly enjoy just makes me that much luckier and more blessed.  I’m not taking any of these blessings that are coming my way for granted at all.  I know how easily and quickly things can change.  So I’m just enjoying the feeling while it lasts.

So wrong

A local young man, 24, has screwed his life up beyond belief over some bad choices and poor judgment.  That is just sad.  The aforementioned young man was drinking, smoking marijuana, then got in his car and was speeding.  He hit another car in an intersection when he ran a red light and killed four people; two young mothers in their 30s and two children.  A third child survived and is in the hospital with serious injuries.  This man is going to jail for a very long time.  To his credit, he is remorseful and does comprehend just how badly he screwed up.  I can’t possibly imagine how he is going to be able to live the rest of his life with the knowledge that he killed four people.  I can’t imagine what it must be like to be 24 years old and know that your life as you know it is over.  My mind just can’t begin to wrap around that concept.  Call me a bleeding heart liberal, but on some level I do feel badly for what he’s going through … and for what he’s going to have to live with forever.  Of course I feel sorrow for the family and friends of the four people who died.  They are in my thoughts and prayers.  And I believe this man deserves any sentence he’s given.  I can just empathize a little bit with the position he’s in.  He didn’t intend to hurt anyone when he made those really poor choices.  But he DID cause their deaths and that is his responsibility and he now has to pay the consequences of his actions.  I know it sounds like I’m straddling the fence here… I’m just seeing both sides of the story.  Any thoughts to share?

A minor pet peeve

I have a minor pet peeve to vent about.  It’s something that the general public probably wouldn’t give a second thought to, but someone in the health care field would.  There’s a headline on a news article I read today that reads “Patrick Swayze checks into hospital with pneumonia.”  And various articles I’ve read have mentioned such and such celebrity “checking out” of the hospital.  Ok, folks, a hospital is not a hotel.  Really.  You don’t check in and check out of one.  You’re admitted by your doctor and discharged by your doctor.  (Unless, of course, you choose to leave Against Medical Advice, in which case you sign a waiver of liability but that’s another story.)   As a nurse, I work hard to be seen and treated as a professional.  I’m willing to admit I may be being a bit overly sensitive about this, but that terminology that makes it sound like a person coming to the hospital is visiting a hotel irks me.  And now that I’m done venting, it’s time to get ready to go take care of some sick patients.  :)