Saturday, March 23, 2013

10 days and counting


That's what the fortune cookie I had a few days ago said, and it is just so fitting. 



The calendar says spring but it's a raging blizzard outside in Denver right now.  Must be mother nature getting me prepped for what is to come!  I found out a little bit more from Nome about what my training will be like and where.  I will be in Nome for about 2 months before going to Anchorage to spend 6-8 weeks at the Native Medical Center (Trauma 2 center).  That means I'm forced to spend my summer in Anchorage... FORCED! hehehe I am so looking forward to this.  In the meantime I am reading up on my past certification books to refresh my mind.

There have been so many mixed feeling the last few days, and I'm sure the days to come.  I am so excited about this adventure, but I am so sad to be leaving the place that my soul calls home.  Leaving all of my close friends in Denver, and all of the new friends that I have met.  I'm sad that I have to leave Bentley in Seattle for 4 months until I can get settled in my own place in Nome (Surprise Marie if you are reading this before I call you about it!).  But I do get this overwhelming feeling of excitement too.  When I am out with friends and they tell people like our waitress or the store clerk that I am moving to Alaska, and then I tell them why and these complete strangers get so excited for me and this adventure, it is absolutely infectious.  

Poor guy has no idea what's about to happen. 
My mom is coming out next week; my last day of skiing Summit county is next week; I move all my possessions, that I didn't mail to myself, into storage next week; sell my Betty next week.  Next week is going to one hell of a roller coaster. Whether you pray or just throw out vibrant juju into the universe I need all the positive thoughts y'all can muster!  Next week is going to be really tough. I guess it's the ultimate case of "First World Problems".

Saturday, March 16, 2013

T-Minus 17 days until takeoff

So this is what I have deemed the most important things in my life that I will need for the next 2 years.  I am probably way off base with my choices. Live and learn right? I'm sure the 5lbs bag of peanut M&Ms are totally worth the shipping charge.

So I am 17 days out from hitching a flight to Alaska and I am pretty excited.  I'm also scared to death, and a little bummed. I was sooo looking forward to finally enjoying a hot summer! Cute little dresses, cocktails with friends on a rooftop patio, sandals, pools!  But alas that will have to wait another couple years.  I decided to take a job in Nome, AK after searching high and low in the Denver metro area for a nursing job. Sure I could have gotten in at a long term care facility, and I am absolutely not against working there. But I wanted to work in what I had trained for, and what I was certified in. Emergency/Trauma medicine.  I was up visiting some wonderful friends of mine in Nome and stopped into the beautiful new hospital that was just built.  I interviewed for my position in jeans, furry Sorrel boots, and a long sleeve t-shirt.  They asked if I would get back on a plane and come back. I told them yes, and I was hired.  I am the newest ER nurse in bush Alaska.

Nome is this little town on the Bering Sea just over 100 miles south of the arctic circle.  Unbeknownst to most people that have watched that stupid movie "The Fourth Kind" there are absolutely no trees.  It's the tundra. I will be lucky to see bushes, let alone a tree.  I take that back there is a tree by one of the hotels in town.

This is probably going to be a fail of a blog because I'm horrible at journaling.  I have many notebooks with 2-3 entries in them before I get bored and move on with other things.  So bear with me while I get used to typing up what's going on.  

Now to make the list of all the things I need to cancel, change address, and give away or sell before I leave.  I'm gonna miss Betty. I wish I could take her. But paying $8000 to fly her to Nome just isn't gonna happen.

Don't worry Bentley is coming with me! He will be an arctic cat and he will love it.. good thing cats can't talk!