To tell you the truth, I’m still a bit stunned that this opportunity has presented itself to me and that I actually had the courage to go through with it. As many of you know, I was what you called a professional homebody. I was completely content hanging around good ol’ Connecticut. I had graduated with a nursing degree and found a great job in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. Things were falling into place and it seemed as though I was getting closer to “settling down."
Apparently somebody had other plans for me. Soon enough the band aid of security was ripped off and I found myself on a plane towards Haiti with four other coworkers. It was my first true experience away from clean water, away from endless resources, and away from home. Although we were only there for a week, that experience changed my life. I came back with an inconceivable change in perspective – at work and in my day to day lifestyle. That new found sense of courage was what propelled me forward. I quickly found myself closing the Connecticut real estate tabs on my computer, and instead opening up travel nursing applications. Before long I left my wonderful job in Connecticut and began driving cross country with my friend, Sofia - we were on our way to cruising over speed bumps in sunny California.
Two plus years of travel nursing later and a second trip to Haiti with some fellow nurses, I have come face to face with another unbelievable opportunity. I had briefly heard about Mercy Ships from another volunteer while I was down in Haiti. Months and even years passed by before I felt myself even capable of entertaining the idea of volunteering on board. Once I realized that a slightly longer mission trip was what I was yearning for, Mercy Ships quickly came back to the forefront of my mind. For those of you that know me, I deliberate often but decide seldom. Once a decision is made, I'm often too hard headed to turn back - it just sometimes takes me a little while to get to that decision. This wasn't any different. After months of contemplating and praying (and slowly integrating the topic of Mercy Ships into the everyday conversations with my parents - after all, the coast of West Africa is sort of a long way from Connecticut), I finally was prepared to make my decision.
It's funny how when things are meant to be, they sort of just fall into place without us really noticing. This is exactly what happened. I met Laura Jo (my fellow non-Tennessee bred friend) during my travel assignment in Knoxville almost two years ago and it was clear that we would be life long friends. Her and I had conversations here and there about mission trips and the next thing I knew we had gathered all the necessary paperwork for Mercy Ships and sent our applications in. That far fetched idea I had months earlier had become a reality - now it was just a wait and see game.
This is going to be interesting - for me and hopefully for
you as well. I have always shied away
from creating a blog of some sort because I didn’t really believe I would have
enough to share. And besides, who would
read it anyway?!? Despite my innumerable
attempts at Dear Diary entries, I have yet to keep such a life account
going. I realize that this whole blog
thing is nothing new, but perhaps the jump to a technological diary will
encourage me to write more than four entries, I mean posts.
On and off I have found myself drawn to other peoples' blogs…sometimes
it’s because it’s an easy read, other times I like to see how other people
write, but more often than not it’s a way to sort of keep up with friends that I
may not see all the time. That last one,
my friends, is my goal. As you may or
may not know, I have recently been accepted to serve as a nurse on board the
Africa Mercy. I figured keeping a
relatively up to date blog would be the best way to keep everybody at home
informed with what I’m experiencing.
At the end of August I will hop on a plane with my friend as we embark on this amazing journey. We will be volunteering as PICU nurses until November. I can't promise that all these posts will be super exciting, they might just be quick blurbs about what went on or what I was feeling. They might just be a collection of pictures. Sometimes I may even direct you to another blog or site, often times we find others seem to have a more elegant way of describing something. But I will make one promise - whatever I do share with you, I promise to be open and true. I hope you will enjoy this journey as much as I do (I won't ever really know if you don't hehe).
