Celebrating My
100K Milestone...
...in the RAIN!
Amazing but, I've finally arrived! Who
woulda' thought?! I've been looking at Active Rain for quite
some time but, it took me awhile to finally decide to sign up and then
to actually write something 'worthy' of being seen by the public--
other than a Residential Purchase Offer!
I'm ever so thankful for being here and for all of the friends that I've made along the way...
However, I'm not going to write the usual milestone-marking post. Instead, I'm going to finally share one of my biggest 'secrets' with you. Adam (Waldman, of course--one of my absolute favs!) and Katerina (she doesn't EVEN need a last name mention, does she? Okay, Gasset!) have both told me that I needed to share my story with you and I thought, 'what better time to do so?' This is really no REAL secret, I just haven't shared it here in the RAIN yet!
Many moons ago, I worked as a
Registered Nurse--I worked in the Operating Room and
assisted in the Recovery Room (now called the PACU--Post Anesthesia
Recovery Unit) and was selected to be one of six nurses to start a home
care facility. That home care facility is now one of the
largest in the Southeast and has many, many nurses employed there!
I had to go 'back to school' to learn to start lines that are inserted into the patients (PICC lines) in order to give them infusions which could not be given by the standard intravenous method. I also had to become chemo-certified to be able to administer chemo to patients in their homes.
I traveled ALL over Charlotte taking care of a variety of patients with a variety of illnesses. I was one of 4 nurses who was chemo-certified so, I was assigned a territory (the BEST in Charlotte) that I covered during the week, then we all rotated for weekend call, so we were back to traveling all four quadrants on the weekends! I absolutely loved my job and my coordinator was just amazing! She took me under her wing and we became lifelong friends! She knew that I would take anything that came my way and she would never have to worry about anything. VERY quickly we became a VERY large firm and grew to about 100 nurses. I continued to 'man' my territory though because we still only had those same FOUR oncology nurses!
Now, we had a scheduling
coordinator who also was a friend of mine and she delved out the
patient assignments to us all. I would chat with her a couple
of times a day and on one particular day, she was just harried!
She said that she had a client that lived just down the
street from me but, that the big boss would not let her give him to me
because I was already overloaded with patients. A couple of
phone calls later, I told her just to give the patient to me and not to
tell the 'boss,' that I would deal with her if she said
anything!
So, Chris gave me the patient who was a quadriplegic and was just a post-operative patient, not an oncology patient--a simple dressing change! Simple, right? Well, I went to his home and 'admitted' him to our home care protocol and began his 'treatment.' I arrived at his home every day at 2:00 and did his dressing change. We would sit and chat and just became fast friends. I later made him my last patient of the day because his home was very close to where my boys (ages 2 & 3) were staying during my work hours. If I had no patients after him, we would just sit and talk for a couple of hours! He worked at Bank of America, FULL TIME, drove and was completely independent! Remember, I said he's a quadriplegic! Now, I've taken care of paras and quads in my day but, one that actually WORKED was just rare! His surgical wound quickly healed and I 'discharged' him from my care. He asked to take me to dinner as a 'thank you' and that was just the beginning!
When I met Ray, I had 'sworn
off' of men altogether! I was NEVER going to date again, much
less MARRY! He
simply swept me off of my feet--well, not literally but, figuratively!
He was
(and still is!) kind, gentle, romantic and simply an amazing man!
He
met my boys and absolutely fell in love with them and they were (and
still are!) crazy about him! I later found that
ALL children are crazy about him and I think we've figured out that
it's because he's right at their level all of the time and they can
communicate with him eye-to-eye--plus, he's just a big kid-at-heart!
After much ado, we finally
married and have lived and continue living happily ever after!
Ray is
totally my HERO and the main reason
that I'm in this business! He tired of me giving
our home phone number to my patients and them phoning me at 3:00 a.m.
in need and me running out, only to get home in time to get the boys to
school and start the day all over again! He begged me to stop
working altogether so, I 'retired' from nursing. I quickly
tired of not working and picked up my real estate career and haven't
looked back! Now, instead of working 24 hours, five days a
week, I'm working 18 hours, SEVEN days a week!! What WAS I
thinking?!
As for my husband, he is
thoughtful in every way and rarely thinks of himself. He's
always there for the boys and I and has attended every single soccer
match, swim meet and basketball game of theirs and loves every minute
of it! One of our boys plays year-round basketball and
believe me, there are ALOT of games! I've worked on my laptop
MANY hours in a gymnasium! Now they're both in college and
we're empty nesters--well, not NOW since they're both home and working
this summer!
We've spent countless hours in hospitals and Ray always comes out smiling and ready to tackle the next hurdle! It's almost gotten to the point that if he ever DOES have a 'down' day, I don't know what to say to comfort him because I'm so used to just accepting him as totally normal and I just want to say, 'Get over it and move on!' Easier said than done when you're not in a wheelchair all of the time!
My husband is now 'retired' from the bank and works exclusively with me--he's The Maxwell House Group's CFO, he is a mastermind with the computer and does all of my website management & online marketing--except for property descriptions and, of course Active Rain (and he'll tell me if I have a typo when he FINALLY reads my post a month later)!! He takes care of getting the boys what they need for college and arranges ALL of the work that is done at my house--lawn care, window washing, repairs, etc. He's truly amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world!
Now, that's not what you were expecting at all for my 100K milestone, was it?!!
I'm ever so thankful for being here and for all of the friends that I've made along the way...
However, I'm not going to write the usual milestone-marking post. Instead, I'm going to finally share one of my biggest 'secrets' with you. Adam (Waldman, of course--one of my absolute favs!) and Katerina (she doesn't EVEN need a last name mention, does she? Okay, Gasset!) have both told me that I needed to share my story with you and I thought, 'what better time to do so?' This is really no REAL secret, I just haven't shared it here in the RAIN yet!
Many moons ago, I worked as a
Registered Nurse--I worked in the Operating Room and
assisted in the Recovery Room (now called the PACU--Post Anesthesia
Recovery Unit) and was selected to be one of six nurses to start a home
care facility. That home care facility is now one of the
largest in the Southeast and has many, many nurses employed there!
I had to go 'back to school' to learn to start lines that are inserted into the patients (PICC lines) in order to give them infusions which could not be given by the standard intravenous method. I also had to become chemo-certified to be able to administer chemo to patients in their homes.
I traveled ALL over Charlotte taking care of a variety of patients with a variety of illnesses. I was one of 4 nurses who was chemo-certified so, I was assigned a territory (the BEST in Charlotte) that I covered during the week, then we all rotated for weekend call, so we were back to traveling all four quadrants on the weekends! I absolutely loved my job and my coordinator was just amazing! She took me under her wing and we became lifelong friends! She knew that I would take anything that came my way and she would never have to worry about anything. VERY quickly we became a VERY large firm and grew to about 100 nurses. I continued to 'man' my territory though because we still only had those same FOUR oncology nurses!
Now, we had a scheduling
coordinator who also was a friend of mine and she delved out the
patient assignments to us all. I would chat with her a couple
of times a day and on one particular day, she was just harried!
She said that she had a client that lived just down the
street from me but, that the big boss would not let her give him to me
because I was already overloaded with patients. A couple of
phone calls later, I told her just to give the patient to me and not to
tell the 'boss,' that I would deal with her if she said
anything! So, Chris gave me the patient who was a quadriplegic and was just a post-operative patient, not an oncology patient--a simple dressing change! Simple, right? Well, I went to his home and 'admitted' him to our home care protocol and began his 'treatment.' I arrived at his home every day at 2:00 and did his dressing change. We would sit and chat and just became fast friends. I later made him my last patient of the day because his home was very close to where my boys (ages 2 & 3) were staying during my work hours. If I had no patients after him, we would just sit and talk for a couple of hours! He worked at Bank of America, FULL TIME, drove and was completely independent! Remember, I said he's a quadriplegic! Now, I've taken care of paras and quads in my day but, one that actually WORKED was just rare! His surgical wound quickly healed and I 'discharged' him from my care. He asked to take me to dinner as a 'thank you' and that was just the beginning!
When I met Ray, I had 'sworn
off' of men altogether! I was NEVER going to date again, much
less MARRY! He
simply swept me off of my feet--well, not literally but, figuratively!
He was
(and still is!) kind, gentle, romantic and simply an amazing man!
He
met my boys and absolutely fell in love with them and they were (and
still are!) crazy about him! I later found that
ALL children are crazy about him and I think we've figured out that
it's because he's right at their level all of the time and they can
communicate with him eye-to-eye--plus, he's just a big kid-at-heart!
After much ado, we finally
married and have lived and continue living happily ever after!
Ray is
totally my HERO and the main reason
that I'm in this business! He tired of me giving
our home phone number to my patients and them phoning me at 3:00 a.m.
in need and me running out, only to get home in time to get the boys to
school and start the day all over again! He begged me to stop
working altogether so, I 'retired' from nursing. I quickly
tired of not working and picked up my real estate career and haven't
looked back! Now, instead of working 24 hours, five days a
week, I'm working 18 hours, SEVEN days a week!! What WAS I
thinking?!As for my husband, he is
thoughtful in every way and rarely thinks of himself. He's
always there for the boys and I and has attended every single soccer
match, swim meet and basketball game of theirs and loves every minute
of it! One of our boys plays year-round basketball and
believe me, there are ALOT of games! I've worked on my laptop
MANY hours in a gymnasium! Now they're both in college and
we're empty nesters--well, not NOW since they're both home and working
this summer!We've spent countless hours in hospitals and Ray always comes out smiling and ready to tackle the next hurdle! It's almost gotten to the point that if he ever DOES have a 'down' day, I don't know what to say to comfort him because I'm so used to just accepting him as totally normal and I just want to say, 'Get over it and move on!' Easier said than done when you're not in a wheelchair all of the time!
My husband is now 'retired' from the bank and works exclusively with me--he's The Maxwell House Group's CFO, he is a mastermind with the computer and does all of my website management & online marketing--except for property descriptions and, of course Active Rain (and he'll tell me if I have a typo when he FINALLY reads my post a month later)!! He takes care of getting the boys what they need for college and arranges ALL of the work that is done at my house--lawn care, window washing, repairs, etc. He's truly amazing and I am the luckiest girl in the world!
Now, that's not what you were expecting at all for my 100K milestone, was it?!!
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