Baby Steps

I'm preppy and I own up to it. I like to dress nicely. I like wearing make up. I like what my hair looks like after spending time styling it. I like feeling clean. What I don't like: how I look in exercise clothes, my face without concealer, letting my hair air dry, and feeling sweaty or grimy. I attribute these dislikes to my idea of what outdoor activities include. I'm realizing that these dislikes are really not THAT bad and I can overcome them, with some baby steps.

On Sunday Jenn heroically decided to stay up all day after having worked Saturday night shift. We went to church together, grabbed brunch as this DELICIOUS Venezualan cafe where they had this delicious spicy hot chocolate...yummy! and then we set off for the Palo Alto Foothills Trail, open only to PA residents, that was recommended by a couple at church that morning. The sun was playing hide and seek, and higher elevations usually mean stronger wind, but we braved the unknown and set off for our adventure! Since I'm not much of an outdoorswoman it was a short adventure, just a few miles, and only 1 mini panic attack on my part. My biggest fear is about going out in the woods and not finding my way back to where I started from! Sure enough, we got off the trail and followed signs that we thought would lead us back to where we started, and it did...eventually, after we re-climbed the "mountain" we'd just descended. Jenn graciously put up with my mumbling and mild grumbling. Overall, I'm really glad we went, and it just takes baby steps before I can conquer the whole mountain and feel more comfortable with the idea of getting off the beaten path. Maybe it's my Type A coming out, or my desire to know my location at all times that prevent the comfort I seek that so many others do find in the wild. 

On Tuesday I'm heading to the Carmel and Monterey area to camp for the first time ever. You can now pick your jaws up off the floor. I've slept in a tent, behind a friend's house back in 6th grade, but have never really spent a night out in the woods inside of a tent! This should be an adventure for sure!

milestones

Last week marked the halfway point of my current travel assignment. It also marked the first week I made personal connections at work with a family. As a traveler there is usually not a lot of continuity of care in my patient assignments, which to me is quite frustrating as I'm a big believer in continuity of care. However, last week I did manage to keep my patient assignments 3 days in a row. With the one family we faced several difficulties such as language barrier and I felt like I was "the bad nurse".

"The bad nurse" is characterized by the nurse that has to tell the families "no" or keep them out of the room for hours at a time, or constantly remind your patient that "no, you cannot have a sip of water because you are NPO" over and over again as tears stream down their face and they beg for just a small sip. I hate being that nurse, but we all must take our turns. After a day of being NPO, traveling to MRI for several hours, and then proceeding to do several other procedures at the bedside preventing the family from seeing their child for about 5 hours I thought that I had rightfully gained the "bad nurse" status. This family in fact did not see me that way. As much as we struggled in our language barriers they saw the care I was attempting to provide to their child. Towards the end of my shift I transferred them to the floor. The mother did not understand why I was no longer going to be their nurse, and then had her child translate for me "That she would always hold me in her heart" AND "if she has a girl she will be named after me" (the mom was 4 months pregnant). Now, I've been close to a lot of families in my day, and I've gone to some extraordinary measures in my day for those families...but none of them ever named their baby after me! I probably did not handle the situation that well as I asked them not to name her after me, I did not deserve that honor. In hindsight I should have just said thank you and realized what an honor and how sweet that was. In the moment it was just weird, creepy, and awkward.

It took 6 weeks to have this personal experience that I so enjoyed as a staff nurse. It also takes 6 weeks to begin to feel comfortable with your surroundings and new routines. I can get around town w/o a gps. I know some great places to eat. I've made friends with the locals. The downfall is that I only have 6 weeks left, and now I need to start thinking about my next assignment. I really like the area out here, and would like to stay, I'm just not sure what to do about my job. This morning I was asked about renewing/extending my contract here. I am worried about the possibility of a strike, however it'd be so easy to just stay here where I know most of my coworkers and how things on this unit run. If I move into the city I'd have to start from scratch again and possibly go back to paper charting (EW!). So many things to think about these next few weeks!

Stay tuned for an upcoming post about my first camping experience that I am about to embark on tomorrow with an old college friend!

Yes, I am Kraftsingle@gmail.com

Saturday started as a dreary, cold day. In an attempt to brighten things up I invited a few traveler friends of mine out to brunch to a cute French cafe (Cafe Brioche). Since this summer I've been on an eggs benedict kick and theirs did not let me down. After a very large mug of coffee I was feeling a little more optimistic about the day's possibilities. I went home and made numerous phone calls back East while attempting to make Irish soda bread for a dinner I was going to that evening. I went out on a limb and rspv'd to a group email inviting me over to a late St. Patty's Day dinner. I volunteered to bring something and was assigned bread, after a quick google search of "what bread do you serve with corned beef and cabbage" I had to decide between rye or Irish soda bread. I had plenty of time on my hands and decided to try out a new recipe (which turned out to be a success-phew!) and at the same time making lots of phone calls back East. I feel like my voice betrays who I've just talked to as it transitions into my tri-state no accent when talking to my family, but then takes on a Southern twang when talking to my south of the Mason Dixon line friends. My last call before leaving was to NC, so with Southern drawl on pitch and fresh from the oven bread I headed off to a houseful of strangers.

It's always a little unnerving going somewhere for the first time, especially when you don't know who will be on the other side of the door. Until last night I'd never met any of the people I'm now calling my "newest friends", we'd only corresponded over email. I could not have been welcomed by a friendlier group of people or had a better first experience with corned beef and cabbage. Conversation was easy, the company nice, and it was enjoyable to spend time with non-hospital people (sorry girls!).  After a cozy fireside chat we dashed through the rain just two houses down to "Graceland". It seems that there are several houses in this area that kind of rotate various members from Grace Pres throughout the years and I guess with all the changing of roomates each year it's easier to say "let's meet at the Bungalow". Graceland was serving ice cream, left over from a previous event, and it drew quite the crowd. I think I met close to 30 people last night and the introductions went something like this "Hey, this is Lindsey" and then inevitably someone would say "Are you kraftsingle@gmail.com?". (If you read a few posts back I had emailed this group of strangers looking for ideas on where to watch Duke games and it seems my email addy has made quite the impression on them!). It was great though and the best thing is that I've made several non-hospital friends, and dare I say some non-female friends from the fellowship last night AND this morning I walked into church actually knowing several people! It makes a world of difference.

To update you on the strike situation: It looks like I'll be able to finish out my contract here, but I am not planning to extend at this time. I really like the area, AND really am excited about this new group of friends, but I don't want to be involved in the strike and am planning on coming back once the hospital and union get things settled, or moving to San Fran possibly. We'll see. It's still too early to think about!

my feeble attempt as a concerned reviewer

Have you ever found yourself scrolling through the endless movie listings on Netflix, late at night, and then weeks later a DVD arrives in your mailbox and you wonder "When did I pick this?". I just had this happen. I'm a bit of a night owl, and sometimes that leads to late night blogging or random movie picking. This week "The Bible Tells Me So" arrived in my mailbox and I couldn't remember what it was about or why I picked it, but this seemed like a good night to watch it. 


The basis of the movie is why homosexuality is rejected by "conservative Christians" and this theory is highly supported by many narratives from the founder of Soulforce, Mel White and by several Harvard Divinity grads. The setting varies between 3 small towns, each of which naturally have a more conservative vibe. One in the Kentucky countryside, one in a small farm town of Minnesota, and the last town being Haw River, NC (seriously, could you get more backward than here?) What poor and very slanted biases they chose to highlight people's "ignorance". I would have given them more credit if they would have chosen a country town, suburb, and city for a better variety. 


I just want to say this up front, I am not a good arguer and am not trying to start a debate. Consider this one of my more serious "diary-like" entries where I just want to get these thoughts out. Obviously in today's world this is a relative issue that we all encounter whether its a coworker or family member, we all know at least one person who is gay. This is a lot different than my parents and grandparents generation and because of that most people my age are more "tolerant" or "open", but that doesn't necessarily mean "supportive". A few months ago while living in LA I had an ugly encounter with a group of gay men and that was a turning point for me where I realized that this is an issue I do need to learn more about, and how to defend what I believe. Maybe this memory is what led to my selecting "What the Bible Tells Me" to add to my Netflix queue. (The previous few DVD's have been about fashion: Valentino the Last Emperor and The September Issue.)


In addition to frequent narratives from Lutheran, Jewish, Church of Christ, etc. ministers and professors the movie creates a rather silly cartoon naming the scientific reasons to explain to "Christian"(the main character) as to why a person is born gay and it's not a choice, and in the credits section states "All this material can be found at any university library EXCEPT that on the Bob Jones campus in South Carolina". Growing up in the church I always knew about Bob Jones University and even I made fun of it (and Pensacola) for just how conservative they were. One spring break during my high school years we went to Georgia and on the way back home passed through Greenville, SC and my parents wanted me to take a campus tour, etc. since I was a junior and this was a college option. I think I threw the biggest hissy fit of my life and remember strapping myself into the backseat of our van with all 3 seatbelts (not one of my best moments).


Moving on,  aside from this silly cartoon, I took issue with how most of the protest footage used I'm pretty sure is from Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), founded by Fred Phelps, who is known for their anti-homosexuality stand and outlandish protests most often at military funerals. The reason I claim the footage is of this group is due to what they are shown yelling and the signs they carry, typical of WBC. I think the hard thing about religion is that within a group there are always sub-groups. Just because they have the word Baptist in their name does not mean that I as a "Baptist" associate with their stand against particular issues or more importantly, how they deliver such hateful messages. It's so hard to convey the message that God loves us and is a God of mercy and grace, and is not the hateful, judgemental figure this church paints Him as when more often than not, the media will air a protest by WBC than a segment about a local church reaching out to their community in love. This is a random fact, but I just want to clarify that I've never been a part of any organized protest- religious or not. 


Then on the opposite end of the spectrum we have the controversy that is just beginning to stir about a man who started out to be quite "solid" in his Christian teaching (degrees from Wheaton and Fuller Seminary who then taught under Ed Dobson, started the Velvet Elvis movement, etc.) to now what appears to be a Universalist point of view in the new book by Rob Bell: Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived. I personally have not read this book, and don't want to buy it because in a way I feel that "supports" him, however in the past the sales of his books have been to profit missionaries and water purification systems in third world countries, so maybe I'll buy it. However, in the meantime, a few key Christian Theologians have summarized the book by saying the main message is that God is love, not an angry being who punished people to an eternity in hell, and that he ultimately forgives everybody. This is vastly different than what the members of WBC would tell you, especially if you were a gay person or supportive of that lifestyle, yet all of us left-right wing Christians are labeled under one stereotype while holding vastly different beliefs! 


I worry about the influence that Rob Bell's new book will have on the Christian community. Read this statement he recently made:"I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." How vague and quite non-offensive. It embraces the "everything goes as long as you love" vibe he seems to be putting out these days. We all want things to be easy, and no one wants to deal with the hard or ugly matters in life, but we can't just say that Hell doesn't exist. If Hell doesn't exist then what makes God so great and powerful? What makes His mercy and grace towards us such a gift? Why would we want to turn to Him if we didn't have Hell as an option for eternity? 


I'm afraid my brain is starting to hurt from all this pondering and it's bedtime. I just needed to get this out of my head. Sorry if you were waiting for me to make some grand statement or declare what is right and wrong. That wasn't my goal of writing this post. 

Adding new words to my vocabulary

Before coming to California two words that I NEVER associated with nursing were "union" and "strike". In LA it had a nice, glossed over feel as I felt that the union was "good" because it provided me with a 15 minute breakfast break and an hour long lunch break---something unheard of for this East Coast nurse! Living in NorCal I've added the word strike to my every day vocabulary. I'm hesitant to write about my current work situation on the off chance this would get back to the hospital and "offend" someone, but this being America, we are entitled to different opinions and freedom of speech and I am going to exercise that right on my blog.

It was not until I was in orientation that I heard the rumbles of strike and and began to learn about a whole different side of nursing. My second week here the hospital and the nurse's union called an "impasse", basically neither side wanted to continue their futile negotiations and were taking a break. During this break I did some hw on why the negotiations to their contract were a year overdue and what the issues are. This is a very basic understanding on my part of two key points:

• the nurses want a 4% raise each year (so in 3 yrs they will be making 12% more than they do now!) and also want "retro" pay for this past year they've been negotiating
• the hospital is not yet Magnet status, and to become a Magnet hospital they need to implement a more structured "clinical ladder" which involves projects and publishing articles, etc.

My first two weeks I struggled with feeling mislead, as the hospital has known a strike is/was a possibility in their near future, yet it was never mentioned in my interview. It was something I never thought to ask when interviewing because I'd never had exposure to this issue before---I will now in the future. However, I do want to give props to one of my assistant managers for informing me during my orientation and giving me a run-down on what my options as a traveler are if they would strike. Most of the other travelers I started with were not so fortunate and some faced negative comments from staff who thought we signed on KNOWING they were planning to strike and were also under the impression that we were making strike pay (strike nurses make ridiculous $, like $90 an hour, $1000 just for showing up even if the strike doesn't happen, etc.) 

I have a hard time with union & striking because they are such foreign concepts to me. I started my nursing career in NC where these two words were never mentioned, they were not a way of life. I "grew up as nurse" thinking it was natural to be hard-working, and if that meant you were too busy to eat or the unit was too busy for the charge nurse or your neighbor to "break you out" then you just made due sneaking food outside your patient's room while brushing crumbs from your mouth as you go silence a pump or hang a flush. I feel that it is a luxury here taking designated breaks with designator breakers. I'm not saying it's wrong or a waste of money to bring in an extra nurse to do this. I believe it's a very safe practice as we spend 12 long hours that require skills of observation and critical thinking to keep our patients safe and progressing along the path of recovery-so thank you union for this benefit. However, on the off chance that you do not get your breakfast break, or even if it's late, you can't help but think that their world is falling apart! (More so in LA than here) It's hard not to preach at them about how good they have it. 

Money is at the root of most of the world's problem, and we never have enough! I understand that your pay should correlate with the cost of living, and I'm glad that in America nursing is a respectable career choice that does pay well...however, it's hard to hear people complain about making $60 an hour when I was making a little over $20 per hour in NC. Granted, Duke IS the lowest paying hospital because in theory "Duke is paying you by having it's name on your resume" but still...that's 3x's the money and it comes with 3 breaks a day! 

Again, this next opinion arises from my previous exposure at Duke where I learned of the clinical ladder within the nursing field. New grads start as a CN 1 (clinical nurse), after a year you become a CN 2, and then after completing projects, being published, doing research, etc you can work towards becoming a CN 3 or CN 4 (each have a higher pay bracket). It makes sense to me, you want to be paid more than you have to do more work. Also, I think the clinical ladder is a good way for a hospital to have a substantial way of showing they have an educated and vested nursing staff who has credentials to prove their nursing experience. I just wonder how many people at this hospital realize the importance/significance of being a Magnet hospital and how their reluctance to implement the clinical ladder delays this process. To be fair, I've heard rumor of nurses being lowered from their current clinical ladder status or that in the future if they have a med error/patient safety issue they will lose their clinical ladder status and not be eligible to move up the ranks for 2 years, etc. I haven't found much info on these issues, and can understand how scary these alternatives are, and also how unjust they seem. Again, this is just a brief highlight. However, it seems to me that unions originated to help create better work environments and I'm not sure if that's the case these days. As a friend of mine put it, "Unions today are more concerned with self-serving and self-preserving."

Today, there was a "Mediation Meeting". All I can do is wait it out, knowing that possibly that first week in April the nurses may strike (89% voted in favor of striking). If they strike I do have a few options, and I've not yet decided what the best one is for me. I'm just ready for the waiting to be over as I've had to put trips on hold and tell people not to visit because I was unsure of my job status. I'll keep ya'll posted!

Lands End is more than a brand

I'm not sure if it's my age, location, weather, or influence from friends, but I find myself wanting to spend more time outside than I normally do. Granted, This is my first winter living somewhere that every day the temp is consistently above 50, and where things are blooming---so yeah, what's not to love? I've always lived in/near areas that have hiking trails, natural or man-made wonders, and great views but it's just now that I'm really starting to appreciate them. In Raleigh I enjoyed walking around Lake Lynn and the Art Park Trails, but today, hiking the Lands End trail along the Pacific coast, skirting the edge of San Francisco and constantly offering picturesque views of the Golden Gate Bridge I LOVED walking a trail for the first time ever. Just note, a key word in the previous sentence is "walking", I'm not a runner and do not anticipate ever posting about how "I love running trails". Sorry to let you down. 

This morning I dropped a friend off at SFO (San Fran Airport) and proceeded on the 280 W to Jess' apartment. We walked just a few blocks to this great lunch spot, Pluto's, where we did what we do best...TALK! It never ceases to amaze me how we haven't run out of things to talk about yet! Granted, I've yet to tell her about my horrible purple obsession in the 8th grade or my Kindergarten boyfriend who had a rattail, but I'm sure we'll get there soon at the rate we're going! We went back to the house, grabbed our gear and the dog and made our way to the Lands End Trail. Jess and her husband are very "outdoorsy" so I was surprised she didn't know this trail existed, with it being almost in her backyard. I was excited for us to explore it together---and with Zuri too!

 

Personally, I really enjoyed this trail and hope to hike it several more times while living here. There are several different sections, but if you only have time for 3 miles and don't mind a few uphill spots of what feels like endless steps climbing upward leading to more breathtaking views then you'll probably like the Coastal trail of the Lands End Trail! You have to understand, I'm the least competitive person when it comes to participating in sports, and when it comes to sports I'd much rather prefer to be the in-the-stands cheerleader than play them. I'd like to contribute to this way of life to my overall positive and encouraging personality, but truthfully the underlying reason probably has more to do with my lack of hand-eye coordination resulting from wearing an eye patch as a young child to prevent my left eye from going blind. All this to say, I did not grow up with "exercise" being a part of my lifestyle but I'm trying to incorporate it more often now in my adult years.

 

I've learned a lot these past few years about myself, and how good it is to try new things. Today is Ash Wednesday, when most people are declaring what they are "giving up". Not me, I like to go against the grain. So starting today I'm doing the opposite and proclaiming that I'm going to stop balking at doing things that make me sweat. Sweating is a huge pet peeve of mine but I need to face it as just a fact of life. As a lady, it's embarrassing at certain times, in certain outfits. As an athlete I feel like it's expected and it somehow manages to look good on you. On me, it's just a slimy reminder that I've spent much of my time living a sedentary life surrounded by good friends and good food. Now I'm not going to deprive myself of trying all these fabulous non-chain, local restaurants but I am going to spend more time walking & talking than sitting & talking! Also, walking is a free activity and "free" is one of my favorite things! 

It was the best of times, It was the worst of times

Last night was a night I'd marked on my calendar months ago, I'd even made efforts to not be scheduled to work. Was it a birthday? An anniversary? A holiday? No, it was the Duke v. UNC game. I've followed Duke basketball quite fiercely for the past few years and haven't given it up just because I moved across country. Since I don't have cable I found a local sports bar that does show some East Coast and watched a game there a few weeks ago, but wasn't able to hear the commentary :( I was hoping that I could watch the game with a traveler friend, or one of my Duke girls but wasn't able to due to conflicting work schedules. With the alternative of simply not watching the game (which really wasn't an alternative), going to the sports bar on my own, or having to man-up and make it happen I chose the latter of the 3 and I put on a brave face and sent an email out to a local church, looking for some company.

Dear women across America, if you would like to create quite a stir within the male population of a church send out a mass email that makes you appear as a sports enthusiast. Haha. I was not quite prepared for the responses I received, but everyone was quite ready to offer up suggestions of where to go. Below is what I sent out:

"Hey! I just attended Grace for the first time this past week, and didn't have a chance to meet any of you yet, but was added to the group emails. I'm new to the area and am looking for a place to watch the Duke v. UNC game tomorrow. I was hoping you all had some suggestions! In case you're wondering, I'm rooting for Duke!!! (It's the only time it feels right to cheer for the Devil, the Blue Devil that is!)"

In response I've had a 20+ email chain start, 75% of those being from guys. A few girls were kind enough to introduce themselves over email and express that they are looking forward to meeting me...and a few guys did too. Most of the guys wrote back to watch it at Old Pro, and a few sent follow up emails to see what I'd decided to do for the game. None came out and directly invited me to join them (which I'm fine with!). One of the guys went so far as to sign "with all my best love" AND one of the girls went so far as to invite me over to watch the game with her husband and friends, most of which had attended Duke for their undergrad. This seemed like the ideal option and I'm always game for making new friends.

It's always a little nerve wracking showing up someplace and hoping you rang the correct door bell. Boy was I glad to see that National Champs shirt greet me :) It was a fun group of people comprised of several Stanford residents, laywers, and 2 PICU nurses. One of the girls impressed me with her "Southerness" by actually bringing smoked pork! Yum! I hadn't baked for awhile, and was glad the hostess allowed me to bring dessert. I made one of my favorites, Marbelous Peanut Butter Bars and even managed to swirl the Duke "D" in the icing, although I think that fact went unnoticed. If you didn't watch you'll have to ask someone else for more details. It was painful to watch, so please don't make me relive that experience! I still have hope for the ACC Tourney, but more important, returning to the FInal Four for a back to back title. 


As sad I am about my team losing, the night wasn't a total loss as I've made several new friends who I hope to watch a few more games with and fellowship with at my new church! You should try emailing strangers and see what it does for you!

No, that sermon wasn't directed at me

This past Sunday the message was on reconciliation. Right off the bat I was quick to think, "This message isn't applicable to me, I don't have anyone I need to reconcile with", but oh was I wrong.  I'm going to break away from my normal writing style of giving out lots of details and try to just convey how happy I am that I let God work in my heart, and my friend's heart over these past few months to now restore our friendship. There is no laying of blame for our drift apart, but more of a natural "coming of age" story of how two great people (one man, one woman) are friends and things get a little fuzzy. When I noticed things were really awry I put my thoughts and feelings into writing, crafting an email that detailed how I felt and to lend an understanding as to why I felt this way and how I wanted things to change. Writing that email was enough for my soul, I never sent it, and am so glad I didn't. Over the course of months God has worked in both our hearts and recently I ran into my friend and it was genuinely great to see him! He said he would call, and he did, again just proving to me what a quality person he is. After a game of phone tag and a few moments of lost signal everything was out in the open between us and it was such a relief. If I would have sent that email I don't think we would have had this conversation, and he probably wouldn't have said such nice things about me! I'm so glad that I'm finally coming into the meaning of my name "of gentle speech". I am a loud, opinionated, sometimes impulsive person and it looks as if years of training and refining moments have allowed me to wait on the Lord for His timing to resolve a situation and allow me to retain a great friendship with only feelings of respect and appreciation for this person.

It's hard to be in the Christian community and see all these great men and women and wonder why we're all still single. If you ever want to read some funny quips from a quirky Christian perspective on how a single person should respond to this check out Jon Acuff's blog: http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/02/awkward-youre-single-conversations-at-church/

What you should name your daughter

When I look back over the years I realize I've been blessed by so many girls named Jessica and Jennifer. Now I realize that those are two of the most popular baby names during 1980's, with Jessica being #1 and Jennifer at #2...with Lindsey following behind at #42!, so I shouldn't be surprised by how many of my friends share these names. (Stats according to this website: http://www.top-100-baby-names.ws/top-100-baby-names-favorites-boys-girls.htm). But why am I so surprised by how much my life has been influenced by "these girls", and especially so these past few months.

Let's start with Jessica since she's #1 on the list. During each phase of my life there has been a Jessica. Jessica from my years living in MD who has been one of my closest friends since high school through today, where she still lives in my hometown (or now lives-she used to be in PA) with her husband. Then there was Jess from my college days who was a fellow tour guide at Liberty. We often were mistaken as sisters, to which we gladly played along with while leading innocent families and teenage boys around campus :) She is originally from CA and her close proximetry to me led to some fun LA adventures. You'll recognize her from some previous posts. Then there was Jess at work in NC. Jess and I didn't overlap too long at Duke but we've found each other out in Cali! My first official day here was spent grabbing some fro-yo with her and we spent hours just gabbing away about "living the dream" at Duke and how travel nursing has molded us, as well as general stories on our life experiences. She's such a well educated and broadly traveled person---I aspire to have her knowledge and experiences! But we don't want "Jennifer" to feel second rate so I better move on.

Not many non-Californians can boast having a good friend named Jenn in each region of California and to add to that exclusivity, we all originally met in NC! There is So-Cal Jenn, Central Coast Jenn, and now NorCal Jenn. Central Coast Jenn and I used to attend the same church in Raleigh (Providence) and while we were in the same singles ministry it wasn't until after she moved to Cali that our friendship really began.  It has been so sweet to spend time with her and her husband, and they are so generous in their hospitality. Several times now I've spent the night while passing through town, and they even invited me to tag along to Disneyland with them on New Years. Did I ever post about that? The other Jenn I've been spending time with recently is a former coworker of mine from when I was staff at Duke. I always knew she was a fun girl, but we were just in different units and different groups. We ran into each other a few times while both travel nursing in DC and I began to see just how much fun she was and wondering why I didn't get to know her better during our Duke days! Now we're both out in NorCal (again accidental, but totally providential) at the same hospital, and in the same apartment complex. I feel so blessed to have found this new friendship with her as we are able to share memories from Duke and the special people and patients from there, but also build on this newfound friendship as we explore the Bay Area together...including trying to find a church! Just this past week we went to a church she'd found and I felt quite at home and already it felt much more personal than my LA church experiences. I'm looking forward to being a part of a church group, and tomorrow night if I'm feeling really brave I might join some complete strangers from Grace Pres at a local pub in my attempt to make more friends!

Do you have multiple friends with same name? Do any of them share these commonalities in your life? Also, I'd like to apologize if your name is any derivative of Jessica or Jennifer and you feel left out, that was not my intent. I also apologize if your name is neither of the above and I was not trying to in any way make you feel less important in my life!

Here is a pic of me with my NorCal Jenn (left) & Jess (right)!