Monday, September 08, 2008

100 Things


I have been home for about a week now, and it's taken me a little time to get back into old routines. I spent five weeks in Alaska (four of it working, and 1 of it playing). A few days since I have been back were spent catching up on sleep and mail, and then diving back into busy night shifts.

There are a ton of pictures to sort through, and stories to tell, but I am glad to be home. I'm going to follow a lead from Chris, and list 100 things I'm grateful for (in no particular order).

1. Family

2. Army Guy

3. Friends who will let you drag them around at crazy hours for a week and still speak to you.

4. Friends who will wake up their new spouse before the sun is up to meet you for coffee at the airport during a layover.

5. That it gets dark here before 1 am

6. Alarm clock-free mornings

7. Surprise dinners waiting for me in the fridge when I get home from work

8. Anchorage bus drivers that will mail a forgotten cell phone back to you across the country

9. Antibiotic eye drops (don't ask)

10. Microwaves that don't explode when you nuke a fork... uh, twice

11. Air conditioning

12. Summer breezes when the A/C stops working

13. High-speed Internet

14. A stable job

15. Online banking accessible anywhere

16. Coffee!!!

17. DVR

18. ... and cable

19. Worn-in sneakers

20. Scrubs so I don't have to bother with getting dressed

21. Supportive co-workers

22. Knowledgeable and efficient nurses

23. Shady trees

24. Having a roof over my head

25. Alarm system

26. Perennial flowers

27. Smooth intubations

28. Unexpected happy outcomes

29. Cruise control

30. Non-exorbitant dairy/produce prices ($7/gallon of milk, $5/avocado!)

31. iTunes/iPod

33. No cavities at the dentist!

34. Quiet time to read a book

35. Picking fresh blueberries from the Alaskan tundra

36. Digital cameras

37. Nights on-call when the pager didn't go off for a few hours

38. Lightning bugs

39. Reliable transportation

40. Deadlines to push myself harder

41. Finished races

42. Friendly faces at work

43. Vacation time

44. Mint-chocolate chip ice cream

45. Female predecessors who paved the way for me in the workplace

46. Soldiers

47. Freedom of speech

49. Hand-written letters

50. Laughter

51. A finished book chapter revision

52. Freedom of religion

53. A warm hand to hold

54. Afternoon naps

55. That I live in a society that wants to take care of its elderly, disabled, and women with children

56. Opportunity

57. Rediscovering old friends

58. Free time

59. Benefiting from the creativity of others... art, music, theater, movies, comedy shows

60. Ability to travel

61. Good health

62. Optimism

63. Ability to vote and participate in government

64. Ability to have input in my work schedule

65. Ability to work overtime

66. Room to improve in my cooking skills

67. Rainy days

68. Parents that valued education

69. Tree-lined neighborhood

70. Long walks around the lake

71. Tiny details in snowflakes


72. Teachers that challenged me

73. Patients that trust me

74. Mexican hot chocolate (it's cinnamon-y!)

75. Long soaks in bubble baths

76. Foot massages

77. Post-shift bar trips

78. Long highway drives with the radio blaring

79. Running into someone I've helped in the community

80. The comics section in the newspaper

81. Learning more about other people's life experiences through blogs/comments

82. Covered parking


83. Waterproof hiking boots


84. Hours-long phone calls to de-stress with my buddy


85. That first "welcome-back" hug with a loved one


86. First-time "I Love You" and I guess the ones since then, too!


87. Starry nights and trying to find constellations


88. Campfires and s'mores


89. The way time seems to help me forget bad memories


90. My work ethic


91. My stall tactics


92. The way sumac turns impossibly-red in Fall


93. Twinkly Christmas lights


94. Memories of my grandparents


95. Daydreams


96. A future to look forward to


97. The smell of fresh-cut grass


98. My sense of humor


99. There are significantly less mosquitoes here than in Alaska


100. TO BE HOME!!!

6 comments:

~~Silk said...

Welcome back. But somehow, I thought you and Alaska would get along fine.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for letting me tag along with you for a week. It was great fun.

Oh and am I the buddy your talking about in #84?

Hope you got your phone

Anonymous said...

Dang, girl! That was a long list. Glad to be a part of it . . . My list resembles yours for the first few and then there is a huge derailment with the words "successful intubation." I guess I should think about adding that one to my list; do you know anyone I could practice on?

Kate said...

P: Got my phone back on Monday. Yes.

R: Your list would probably be much more poetic

Chris said...

Kick butt list! I'm thankful for it:)

90 and 91 cracked me up, being one after another.

You have to admit, once you got started, this list just rolled out, didn't it?

Ruthie said...

Lists bring out the prose in me . . .