One year to the next

What a difference a year makes. And the past year has been a doozy.

Last year, on this same weekend, I left Dad’s house, spent three days in a hotel and ended up in a homeless shelter for a month. My sister’s drama and mental illness created a more than tense situation. She had already pulled a gun on me, and told me about the dreams she was having about smothering me with a pillow while I slept.

Dad was finally coming home from the hospital, and I couldn’t let the tension between my sister and I affect him. It was best for me to leave, so I did..

This weekend I am staying in a hotel again, only under much better circumstances. My manager is sending me out of town to a resort for a spa weekend, all expenses paid. This is the result of good news we received today.

Our hospital became a nationally-recognized team for a special genetic illness. I took this project on the first week I started my new job this past spring. Usually, preparing the application for something like this takes a good six months of planning, meetings and multiple rewrites before the final document is sent. I did it in two months. I interviewed the right people, was persistent in getting right information and rewrote only once. We thought that, at best, we would receive provisional approval, but we are a full on team!

Instead of wondering where I was going to go next, this year I know where I am now.