November was a rollercoaster for me. (Probably for a lot of people - but this is about me.) I’ve had that odd anticipatory butterfly gut feeling for the last 30 days. It’s a mixture of my foster cat going home (I’ve had her for 2.5 years - I’m in serious awe and respect of foster families now), the whole vaccine thing, my 25th work anniversary, a very, very emotional Leadership Development Institute (LDI), and hosting 17 people at Thanksgiving this last week … this was a big month. December will be odd.
Ribboned through the entire month was gratitude (definition: the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness).
I’ve talked about my “fostering” experience for a while now. Pets are important to our lives and over the past couple of years (especially with covid) … I’ve bonded with my cat. I renamed her Bubba (it’s McKenzie, not a cat name in my book) and fed her rotisserie chicken. I’m thankful for her and what she brought me in the form of companionship over the past couple of years.
The covid vaccine? It’s a really tough subject to pull out some gratitude, but here goes nothing. I’m thankful that we didn’t force a mandate early on when other hospitals were doing this. I’ve heard that our staff is grateful as to how we handled the mandatory vaccine rollout.
25 years here and the LDI? Our theme for next year is “The Calling” - what is the reason you got into healthcare or work at Iowa Specialty Hospitals and Clinics and what keeps you here? The stories that were shared over the past month had me laughing and crying (sometimes at the same time). I am filled with gratitude and love for all of this. (This may be enough to get me through January and February.)
So Thanksgiving - whether you are hosting and cooking for a bunch of people or just giving thanks for your friends/family/job/pet … November was clearly a month of gratitude for me.
