Pausing to reflect on the year that was before looking ahead.
Some of the highlights of the past year:
Homemade bhelpuri: The first winter in 5 years not spent in India. The polar vortex visited and after the 15th snowfall, I regretted not going there. This consoled me. 2015 will remedy this homesick feeling.
Fire Island Pines: This is why our book club is better than yours. Can't ask for a better way to spend an afternoon with a group of friends and more often catch up on our lives, and then talk about the book. My favorite book club pick this year: Tim O'Brien's "The Things They Carried." The first chapter can stand alone as a masterful short story. The woman in the wine store talked to me about it when I was picking up my contribution to bring to the gathering.
Closure: My fellow nurses / co-workers ate our feelings. It was the first time I attended a patient's memorial service. It seemed fitting to be one of the first persons to provide him care and see him at the end. I reflected on how much his death affected me. To see his family and friends recognize me after months of not being in the oncology unit anymore felt so gratifying. If I have doubts about how much difference I make in the patients I see, I just think of this day.
Difficult to top this one. All productions I see at the Metropolitan Opera House will be measured against this.
Waded my feet for the first time at the Jersey Shore. A brief summer jaunt, serenaded by Johnny Mathis.
My combat gear. This is how I start my day before I leave my desk. 2014 saw me complete my first year as a full fledged nurse practitioner. Lots of ups and downs. Different kinds of stress than before. These are my essentials. When I have them all on me, I'm ready to go.
Just when I thought my day was going bad, a former patient's family member sees me and gifts me a bottle of champagne on the spot as a thank you for his father's care. I live for surprises like these. Hoping for more of these in 2015.
The penultimate ride from Disneyland before heading home to New York. (The last one was from Big Thunder Mountain, of course.) May all my days be full of adventure and joy like this.