Allow Me To Introduce Myself

My name is Lisa.

Seems like a logical place to start, right?

Once upon a time, I had a different blog called Great Lakes Running Gal, and it chronicled my triumphs and setbacks as a runner. Honestly that seems like eons ago. I let the blog decline, and eventually, with the advent of Facebook, I completely let it go.

Not again.

Yes, I'll admit, Facebook has its place in my life, but I find that blogging allows me to let it flow. Let my thoughts just come as they may, try to capture them with my keyboard and let it all hang out.

So, now that you know my name, let me give you a brief rundown of events that led me here. To California.

I was born and raised in Michigan, and after about 10 years of moving around the country, I found myself back in the Great Lake state in 2001. Married, one child and happily ever after.

Or, so I thought.

Turns out, the "happily ever after" part didn't quite ring true. I won't get into specifics about that, but suffice it to say, I wasn't happy. I wanted out.

I got out.

Divorced last fall, I found myself living on my own for the first time in a number of years. I was in a new nursing job that I thought would be a good, secure stable income for a number of years.

Well, not exactly.

My job, while it was FULL-TIME, was subject to cancellation when our patient census dropped. My union contract deemed it necessary to cancel nurses based on seniority. The low man on the totem pole had to stay home when numbers dropped.

The only thing beneath me in seniority was the ground. Low senior. That was my name. I should have had it tattooed on my body, really.

My full-time job turned into part-time. I was struggling. I was a new nurse, and I couldn't work. That just simply seemed unacceptable. It still does.

I began to investigate options. One that came to mind was travel nursing. I looked into the specifics, liked what I heard, and decided to go for it. After about three solid months of looking, being courted by a variety of recruiters, I accepted my first assignment in Santa Rosa, CA for a 13-week stint.

Wow. It was really happening. I was about to leave Michigan for at least 13 weeks. Off to sunny California. License in hand, job waiting, oh, and guess what?

No cancellations. Yep. It's true. It was part of the contract.

I know you're probably asking the question, "But wait. You're a mom. How could you leave your son?"

I'll get to that.

In the next post.