…is the fun way of saying I was mandated to stay at the hospital during the impending hurricane a few weekends ago. I spent much of my Thursday running errands, packing a bag, and getting organized. My coworker expressed that it felt like we were packing our hospital bags like we would if we were headed in to have a baby. I might not have any first hand experience in the whole “hospital baby bag situation,” however, somehow I don't think you usually need an air mattress when you're having a baby.. momma's, can you lend some insight? In addition to my air mattress, I had sheets, a pillow and blanket, a surplus of scrubs, lots of snacks, shower supplies.. and at the end of it all, I did not come back home with a baby.
This adventure vaguely reminded me of the time I had to spend the night at the hotel across the street at my staff job in Hershey, PA because of a snowstorm that got too bad for us to safely make it home and back. (As we have learned with the pandemic, bedside nursing is a little difficult to tap into the ever popular "work from home" option, so hospitals will often work with staff to put them up close by in a tough weather situation so that they have people available and able to care for the patients-- and hopefully not become some in the process.) The subtle differences I had already noticed as I started to type this Thursday evening are the air mattress that is just not quite the same as the queen sized hotel bed, the lack of room service in the hospital (although I did ask my coworker to pass the popcorn and then it appeared in front of me, so that’s kinda the same, right?), and the fact that I stayed with a dozen other people in a collection of offices instead of just one in a hotel room.
I was glad, however, that I had to do this in the middle of my contract instead of in the beginning, because I knew and was comfortable with all the people I had to bunk up with. I quite like my coworkers, and I would much prefer to be dealing with the uncertainty of a disaster with people I know than any alternative.
I also am glad that the hurricane was as "mild" as it was and would prefer that over any alternative. We definitely did not get it nearly as bad as some of the nurses (and people in general) in Florida. In Charleston, we got a lot of rain-- some indoors (think leaky pipes, water coming in through the windows, ceiling tiles falling down from being so wet... all sorts of fun), a decent amount of flooding (but let's be honest, we always do when it rains), lotttts of wind (as evidenced by the leaves and branches strewn about after the storm), and a nice cooling effect.
I got even colder when I had a different-- but much more fun-- sleepover the following weekend. I ventured back up to Maryland, and more specifically to Deep Creek Lake, Maryland and got to hang out with people I know quite well (as well as made a few new friends, hey hey!) for a wedding! I exchanged my scrubs for a few dresses (and a few heavier coats and blankets.. my goodness it was chilly!) and had myself a grand ol time.
Part of this great time was thanks to one of my besties who is magnificent behind the camera. She was the photographer extraordinaire at the wedding, but we may or may not have found ourselves on the dock in the chilly hazy rain on "wedding day eve" with me in a thrifted tulle dress tapping into one of our favorite motifs of gentle yet powerful photos. It made us think back to our first ever creative shoot which also was in the rain and utilized a little bit of tulle fabric to capture some movement. I always love being able encapsulate this kind of emotion into a photo, and show off my athletic progress with all the hours of dance I've been doing (have I shared on here..? I'm prepping for a show and joined a company!! I'll probably do another post about dance, but in the mean time, you can buy tickets to watch me dance or click here to read about the show-- long distance pals, stay tuned for the virtual link!)
We only spent a short moment outside in efforts to not get ourselves sick and have to miss the main event the next day, and we randomly got invited to the rehearsal dinner so we had to scurry back inside, warm up, change, and zip back out to dinner. In that time, however, Aim managed to edit a few of the photos as sneak peeks. Can you help us decide which you like better? Color or black and white?
While Aim and I are often better at getting pics of each other (either on her fancy camera or just with our phones across the table with a drink in our hand and apps in between) I did manage to find a moment to ask her to step in front of the camera for a few pics during the wedding.
While these past few weekends were go go go and packed to the brim with sleepovers and photos (what do I think I'm doing, trying to meet a made up quota I guess??), I think I'm done with going on sleepovers.. at least for a hot second.. next weekend I get to host when my momma comes to visit!! .....well and then I have a sleepover planned halloweekend to go to a USC game.. let's face it, the adventures never cease!!
((Photos: Aimee Nguyen Photography))
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