Five Minute Friday: Finding My PLACE

I'm finally getting a chance to link up with Five Minute Friday! It feels like forever since I wrote something for the sheer pleasure of it. My school work has to take precedence so it takes up my brain space.

But, today's prompt just made me smile. PLACE

I have finally found my PLACE. I have a tribe. I have a church. I have a family. But, I have been without a PLACE for so long I didn't realize how much I missed it.

I never really wanted to work outside the home. I have enjoyed other spaces and employers but not like this one.

I feel like I really belong here. It is my super-busy-rest-while-I-work hard-serving-PLACE.

One might wonder why I feel so at home on the psychiatric units of our regions largest hospital. Or, if you've known me a while, maybe you know exactly why.

I love serving hard working care givers. I am the caregiver for the caregivers - the one who fills in the gaps, gets things done, has fresh eyes, and a responsive heart. I don't do much with or for the patients. Occaisonally I serve the relatives of the patients, but typically, I show up to serve those caring for their patients.

They pour heart and soul into their patients. Caring for the lost, broken, sad, lonely, angry, afraid, and other displays of trauma and pain is their gift, their skill, their offering to this world.

I am so thankful to call this my PLACE.

Where Do You BELONG?

Today's Prompt is the word BELONG. In October I am doing 31 Days Free Write for 5 Minutes.

Beginning in January I spent 19 days admitted to one of our regions hospitals, Sacred Heart Medical Center, for a migraine that didn't go away until early June. I was treated with extraordinary care, kindness, patience, and compassion, with consistency I have never experienced in any organization before. They made me feel like my individual care mattered to them. Every day, every night, and every time in between, the staff were there for me. There are still many stories to be told about this window of my pain season, but one of the most surprising highlights of those days of agony was spent in the care of the most loving place I've ever been outside of family and friends. 

The view from my window on the neurology unit.

Now, I BELONG there. Mid July I logged in to their website to pay my bill/update my financial aid request and I saw the link for Job Opportunities. I clicked, uploaded my resume' and said a prayer. October 1, I started working for the place that gave me a sanctuary in my agony. I hope to do the same for others.