Sunday

It's late Sunday afternoon and I have been awake for 2 1/2 hours.  The last hour spent watching Ilon in her first gymnastics class here in Moscow.  I smiled the whole way through it.  She laughed, tried to be serious, flipped, fell, giggled, encouraged her partner, enjoyed every second.  It was worth getting out of bed for!

I spent last night in two different worlds. The first part of the night I cared for a little 1 day old boy under bright bili lights, adjusting his darling sunglasses that made him look like a superhero, taking pics of him and mom with her sunglasses on.  Cuddling, changing diapers, laughing in the dark room lit up in neon lights.  Sweet, quiet, moments shared with these parents and their new little one.

Then the Cougs won. WSU cougar fans celebrate hard, it turns out.  I went to the ER for the rest of the night.  Loud, busy, more bright lights, helping not so new parents change their not so little children out of soaked clothes.  Drawing labs, holding throw-up basins, cleaning gashes to ears, foreheads, legs.  Holding hands, bringing warm blankets. Telling them it's OK, wiping away tears.  It's fast, serious, dirty, raw, and real.  I loved it. I love both worlds.  You never imagine the darling newborns growing up to be real people.  People that mess up, make mistakes, hurt others.  Or people that also come in with their friends, holding their hair back, wiping away their vomit, the girl who stayed up all night in the ER with someone she just found, bleeding, didn't know her.  The world will always have both kinds of people, most people will be both kinds at one time or another.  There will always be a time to serve, and a time to be served by others.

I love my job.