This post is dedicated to my BFFaeaeaeaeaeae4L (do you guys remember doing that in school?), Nat! Our days as travel nurses came to an end a while ago and we both have been talking about doing a last post on this blog. Today is a rainy day. Perfect day to write down some thoughts.
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The day we left.
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| Throwin it way back to nursing school days. This is Ron and Opal. |
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| One of our trips back to Florida to visit family. |
It was the early morning of October 1, 2013 (or was it? the date may be wrong but I'm sure Nat will correct me) where we hugged and kissed our families good bye and drove away in Nat's tan Toyota Corolla, Ron (I believe that came from "Parks and Rec"). I was a young 26 year old and Nat was an old 26 year old. We talked about how we felt like Bilbo Baggins "going on an adventure!" Little did we know that we were not only going on a fun-filled adventure but we would encounter loneliness and some depressing days (mostly during the holidays). The great thing is, we had each other! (Nat may not be so quick to feel the same). We were able to feel lonely together, depressed together. We literally spent our time 24/7 together. One car. One home. One job. It became more than a friendship. It became a marriage. That's why we started out in California. Noooooo, but seriously, it became a sisterhood.
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| Our stop in Utah at Temple Square |
Travel nursing was so much fun. And challenging. The great thing was you worked there for a few months and then you moved on. The bad thing was you were thrown onto the floor with little to no orientation and you had to quickly gain rapport with the staff because you needed them to have your back at times or lend a helping hand (which wasn't too difficult, most people were very helpful). Our first assignment was in CA in the bay area (near San Francisco) and we had already seen so much on our drive out there. When we left Florida, we drove up to IL (did some sightseeing) and then across through MO, KS (the worst drive, SO windy!! I was for sure Ron was going to blow right off the interstate. Thankfully we had a lot of heavy luggage in the car.), CO (stopped to visit with my friends, Robin and Ryan), UT (stayed the night, what a beautiful state! all of that red rock was something I had never seen before), NV (first time I went 90+ mph!) and then drove across the border into CA and was able to drive along Lake Tahoe (I will NEVER forget those views, absolutely beautiful!). We did a lot of traveling in CA. Went from SF to LA and made some great memories along with A LOT of inside jokes. We were starting out learning about each other. Afraid to tell the other how we were feeling or what we needed to do (know where I'm going with this? hehe ;) ).
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| 17 Mile Drive, Monterey Peninsula, CA |
Then came our next assignment in WA state. The northwest. It is a green place. I love the trees and landscape. When I came back to FL to visit the first thing I noticed (yes, was the humidity) so really the second thing I noticed were the trees. It's so different. I know, strange to keep talking about it, but seriously. If you travel from the northwest to FL look at the trees. We also did quite a bit of traveling in WA mostly to Seattle which is one of my favorite cities! Was so sad to say goodbye :( We went into Canada and visited small towns and eventually made our way to Vancouver. Traveled to MT, ID and OR. WA is where we made great friends and many more great memories. And I think we ate much more in the northwest. Man, we learned what it meant to eat GOOD food.
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| Our first day in Rathdrum, Idaho (WA assignment). First time I experienced snow like this AND driving in snow! |
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| Forced best friend photos. Kerry Park, Seattle |
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| Our first trip into Canada! (my Caaaaaaaanaadah) |
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| Visiting friends in Portland |
I can't believe all we did in a short amount of time. I can't believe how much growth we both experienced in such a short amount of time. There is so much LIFE (friendship, loneliness, depression, happiness, healthiness, body image acceptance, faith, dating, love, hate, anger, deaths, hurt, forgiveness...) we lived in that one and a half years. Right, Nat?
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| Oahu, Hawaii |
Then I moved. And now our relationship is in shambles. We need help. Just kidding! We like to say that was the end of that chapter and now we have started the next one. I gained another sister out of this and love her dearly. She is so goofy but has (Nat, I actually wrote 'some' but then deleted it haha!) rbf so it's hard to see it at first. She is hilarious! And she is one of the best nurses I have ever worked with and has some strong intuition. I would trust her with my life. Just wanted to throw that tidbit in there. If you ever have her as a nurse. Because I think I may have joked that she could kill you or something like that.
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(This one was for our favorite career consultant, Charity, at Medical Solutions).
I LOVED working together. Some of the best memories. Love you, Nat Nat Bear :) |
Thank you to those who followed our blog, thought about us and prayed for us! It was much appreciated!!
