Strangely Un-FP

I had my interview yesterday. Finally. The HR person really did take her sweet time in arranging the meeting with Maureen, the nursing director for the unit. But it happened. We met, and we talked, and I pretty much just told her the Story of Me (including the touchy bit about how it came to be that I left Famous Hospital after the Dramatic Incident), and she told me a little bit about her own story and her values and philosophy for being a nurse manager, and some of the current (very thoughtful) adjustments being made to the nurse training process. She talked about the difficulties and strengths as she's seen them in people like me moving into a staff nurse role. AND and and, at the end of our chat (more than an hour long), she offered me the job.

So in a couple short weeks, I will be an oncology nurse at Other Famous Hospital! This is on the floor where I did my precepted clinical experience for my nursing refresher course, and at this point (probably a bit honeymoon-ish still, I guess) I just can't imagine a better inpatient unit. I have been continually impressed with the level of matter-of-fact, unpretentious commitment of the nurses; their supportiveness of one another; their existing scope of knowledge and the readiness of even the most experienced nurses to learn new things as the occasion arises; their genuine respect and regard for their patients. And none of it is goopy or fake or sugary or over-the-top--it's all so low-key you'd think they weren't doing anything extraordinary at all. And besides all this, the unit is well staffed, and the hospital infrastructure things (supplies, linens, patient transport) as well as the supportive services (lab, radiology, pharmacy) are as close to well-oiled-machine status as I've ever seen in my limited experience with hospitals. Not to mention, the physical therapists are great; the chaplin is great; the dietitians are great; the nurse's aides are great (well, mostly--there is Lazy Cecilia, but she's definitely the exception); the desk clerks are great. I mean, really, it's almost eerie.

I'll be making about the same as I was in my ill-fated position at Famous Hospital, maybe a bit more (especially when you consider $5/hour above base rate for evenings; $7/hour above base rate for nights; and an additional $4/hour above base rate for weekends). And there are vision benefits! I've never had vision coverage before. And for $36 a month, I can join the on-site gym, which apparently has an indoor and an outdoor pool. I mean, jeez. It's almost as if, from Funny Pathetic, I'm being catapulted into Funny Ridiculous Good Luck.

Well, I mean, we'll see, right? Who knows what's coming. Maybe this is the end of seven years of bad luck after breaking some mirror I don't even remember. Or maybe it's Pride Goeth Before a Fall. Or the eye of the hurricane. After all, life is so rich in possibilities for sudden tragedy, never mind sudden disappointments and set-backs. You really don't know.

But, well, at this moment, I may tell you that I have accepted a job in a wonderful place doing really good work; Cassie is happy and healthy and got an excellent haircut this week; and my uterus has nearly reached the midway point between the symphysis pubis and the umbilicus, with nice fetal heart tones. The index for Pete's book is finally done; my Jetta gets good gas mileage; the house is getting a bit less chaotic as I have some days free. And I just got some chamomille-scented baby shampoo to wash Cassie's hair with, and it smells really, really good.