Dr. Pepper and Skittles

An interesting thing happens when you start working nights. You suddenly stop hearing from people. I have honestly only heard from about three different people that haven’t been co-workers since Thursday. Is it because people are afraid that they will wake me? Or that I will be annoyed with them for texting me after coming off a twelve hour shift? Well believe me, I won’t. It would be nice to have a conversation with someone other than my cat and husband at one in the morning because he is awesome enough to stay up with me and keep me awake. I’m sitting here typing this thinking about how I should probably respond to his text message before he falls asleep.

Another interesting thing happens when you start working nights. You gain a great appreciation for things that you didn’t have before. Like for instance, Dr. Pepper and skittles. The one thing keeping me going. You also learn to realize that there are a lot of people counting on you. For the 12 hours that I am at work tonight, my client is depending on me to keep them safe and make sure nothing happens to them. Honestly, the one I’m with reminds me a lot of my Mom. When I get her up to go to the restroom, I use the same techniques that I was taught by Jim to get my Mom up. When my mom passed, it seemed like the world was going to end, but it taught me something. And it prepared me for something. It prepared me for what I am doing now.

This job that I do might seem like an easy thing, but you come to get attached to people. I have only been here for three weeks, but in that three weeks, I can tell you the life stories of multiple people and who they are and what they did to get here. Some of them are truly heartbreaking. I think about what it will be like when I get to be as old as some of the people here, if I do, and I hope that I can still be as happy and hopeful about life as they are. You really learn a thing or two from spending time around a bunch of people who have lived such a long life when you have hardly begun to live yours.

Whoever is reading this, I don’t know what you will get out of this, but if there is something, I hope that you begin to live. And not just day to day. I hope you make memories and love your life. If you don’t, change it before you don’t have an option too.