And the Marathon Begins!

About a month ago, I realized that the time of year that I have now come to dread was almost here. That time of year, of course, is the holiday season. I think that it's really sad that I have come to dread it. The reason why is because every year I bust my ass, running around like a crazy person, trying to buy presents for my large family at the last minute. Meanwhile, the hospitals don't close, so of course I have to try and juggle working, buying presents, and visiting with both my mom's side and my dad's side of the family, who live in two different states. Just thinking about it is exhausting. And it's like this every year. Now that I am in Boston, the matter is further complicated by distance. Again, I am wondering why I ever thought the travel nurse thing was a good idea.

So this year, I tried to take at least a little stress out of the picture, and I emailed my family, pleading with them to send me wish lists, so that I wouldn't have to spend extra time trying to guess what everyone wants. It's sad I know. I wish I had time to try to think of something special on my own, but it's just not feasible. Anyway, the good thing is my family complied, and after two days (9 total hours) of shopping, I came home triumphantly with presents for 10 people. For me, being the wishy-washy, constantly-worried-about-buying-something-that-someone-might-not-like type of shopper, that's pretty darn good. And I only spent one whole paycheck. Ouch.

Now that I have the shopping out of the way, all I have to do is work, pack, and travel. Sounds easy, right? Well here's my schedule for the next two weeks:
--Starting tonight, I'm working 4 days in a row. (That will be roughly 50 hours in a 4 day time period.)
--As soon as I get off work Wednesday morning, we'll catch a train to Providence to meet up with my sister, to leave right away to drive 15 hours straight to Louisville, KY (where my mom, my stepdad, and my two little sisters live)
--Saturday evening, we'll fly back to Boston. I'm scheduled to work the 24th, 25th, and 26th. However, I'm pretty sure I'll be sick on the 24th (cough,cough). As a side note, don't you think it's pretty bitchy to schedule someone to work Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and Christmas? When I questioned my manager about my schedule, she was like "Yeah, I did that on purpose." Well all I gotta say is f*ck you biatch, especially since our unit is going to be closed for construction that week, and we'll just be floated to other units to work anyway. That's why I'm pretty sure I'll be sick on the 24th. Maybe even the 25th, just for good measure.
--So after Christmas, we'll be flying back to the ATL on the 28th to spend Christmas with Dave's family, and then my Dad's side of the family. Plus we will try to squeeze in as much QT with all of our friends as we can. Finally, we'll top it all off with a fun Funkle New Year's Eve!

And now you see why I dread this time of year. It's just too much. But year after year, it's starting to become the trend. I guess I shouldn't be so pessimistic about it. It could be a lot worse. On the bright side, I am sooo excited about getting to see everyone that I've been missing so much. I mean, that's what it's supposed to be all about, spending time with the people that you care about, and letting them know that you appreciate them. I just hope that I'm not too exhausted to enjoy it. I think it will be all good though. I think I'll just be so happy to see everyone that I'll forget about being tired. As my dad always says, "Sleep when you're dead." I'll have to try and remember that.

After we get back to Boston, it will be back to work again for me. I'll then work 6 out of 7 days (72 hours in 7 days), and then I'll get a vacation for a week and a half. After I'm done working, we'll be leaving that afternoon to go skiing for 5 days. (Yay! I can't wait to go skiing!) When we return from skiing, I'll have 5 blissful days of nothingness before I start my next contract. So there you go, that's what I'll be doing for the next month. I'll apologize in advance if my blogging suffers, because I know it will. I will definitely try to stay on it as much as I can though. Wish me luck! (And if you can't find me, just go outside and scrape my squished remains up off the sidewalk.)