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A few weeks ago I started working on our annual photo book. We started this tradition last year to document our first year together, then I retroactively made a “pre-marriage” photo book, and now I’ve started putting together all of the photos and stories that made our second year of marriage so special. As I sorted through my iPhoto account and wrote up some summaries about our trip to the Bahamas and our one-year anniversary weekend, something suddenly became glaringly apparent: we have about half of the pictures and stories we had from our first year of marriage.
At first I thought maybe I was just photo happy last year, seeing as we were newly married this time last year, but I realized with a heavy heart that the real reason we didn’t have many pictures or events was because, well, I’ve been working 60-70 hour work weeks for the past 11 months. And let me tell you something, in that moment, I finally felt the exhaustion — the sheer mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion — that comes with working two nursing jobs on two different psychiatric units.
Let me just pause here and say that one day I hope to write up a blog post detailing exactly what nurses do in a 12-hour shift because, while I don’t think nursing is the hardest job in the country or anything, it certainly has unique challenges and stress that just don’t exist in the 8-5 world. And when your world is 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., you live in a whole different world indeed. Imagine feeling jet-lagged literally every hour of every day (ok, 23 hours of the day…I can rock 11 p.m. like nobody’s business). Imagine sleeping 3 hours before commuting 2.5 hours to your second job. Imagine having the 17th person of the day describe to you exactly how and why they are planning to commit suicide. Imagine having at least 4 people scream at you, cuss you out, and threaten to kill, sue, or otherwise bodily harm you. Imagine coming home and still trying to stir up enough energy to be an energetic wife. And then imagine doing all of this over and over again, five or six days a week. (Listen, there is a reason nurses are only supposed to work 3 days a week.)
I sat at my desk and cried when I realized a whole year at this pace had already come and gone. I am SO THANKFUL for the lessons I learned — not just from being dedicated to two jobs but also from the experiences I had and the relationships I made — but I have learned that everything comes with a price. Sure, our budget was loving two nearly-full-time jobs, but our marriage and my body were not. I have been sick far more frequently than normal, tired an inordinate amount of time, and doing basically nothing but working for almost a year.
And then, literally that same week I received an email, asking if we knew of anyone interested in this brand new position with a vaccine management company based out of Orlando. I forwarded the email to Brian and he told me to look at the job description myself…because it sounded just like me. I read it over and, sure enough, it sounded like an exact mix of what I love about and what I’m good at with my current two jobs. I sent my resume the next day and within an hour had a call to set up an interview. A telephone interview, a Skype interview, and a quick plane ride to Orlando for four more hours of interviews later, and I realized I loved everything about this new company.
Now that we have told all of our immediate family and my wonderful coworkers I can finally share our big news with the rest of the world: I have officially accepted a position with this new company! Don't worry, we aren't moving. My "office" here will be our home and my car! The first question people have been asking me is whether or not I’ll be a salesperson, and the answer is no, but I will be working closely with that team. The salespeople are focused on creating new customers, and my focus is keeping our current customers in Kentucky and Indiana excited and happy. I’ll do healthcare staff education with each of our partners, as well as introduce new products and help maintain their inventories of supplies. It will be a lot of traveling, including some overnight traveling, but I’ll still be home with Brian significantly more than I have for the past year. Plus, I work NO nights, weekends, or holidays. And considering this weekend is the first weekend I’ve had off since long before Christmas, I am more than ready to meet this weird thing called Saturday and Sunday.
We couldn’t be more excited! Both Brian and I are ready for all the lifestyle changes this new job brings, and I am SO excited to be part of a company that is growing so fast and has such a positive and focused vision for the future. My heart breaks to say goodbye to my current coworkers, particularly the night shift staff who have become my second family with our deep and funny and personal conversations at 3 in the morning. But when I walked into the headquarters office in Orlando and was immediately greeted by a director who spoke to me like we had known each other forever, I just knew I couldn’t have asked for a better new work family to be a part of.
We do appreciate all of your prayers during this period of transition. Particularly for Brian, who due to classes at the Seminary, won’t be able to join me in the sunny city of Orlando for my two weeks of training next month. ;)
We love you guys!
Callie (and Brian)
P.S. Also, if you want to know any more about my new job or the new company, please ask me! I love talking about it, particularly because this sort of position outside of the hospital (and heck, outside of nursing!) is new to me too and I truly love the company! But since our blog post is open to anyone and our Facebook page is less private to accommodate our extended families near and far, we have chosen not to put the names of our employers on social media. :)
