dear friends,
things are going ok in sunny ca! i was disappointed to find out that i couldn't move into my apartment until the 31st as i had told my recruiter (who said "no problem") that i wanted to be in by the 30th. this meant another day of suitcase living and another day of waiting..........
fortunately, i've been to ingrid's enough that i feel quite comfortable in her neighborhood! heck.. she happens to live in a very grand avenue-esque neighborhood just next to the beach! so its a great place to be stuck!!
I had envisioned what kinds of the things i could get done without driving (my rental car full of my stuff) and without being moved into my apartment. my friends jill and seth are graciously letting me borrow their subaru wagon while i'm living in sunny CA, so seth and i spent some time trying to figure out details of insurance. fortunately, i have the rental, Fival, until Friday.
speaking of friday.. i'll be flying to sacramento that day to get my CA nursing license. yes, there was a mail-in way to do the same thing, but it could take possibly up to 8 weeks so i just deciding that rather than risking it, i would wait until i got to CA. the ticket was cheap from LAX and it'll be part of the adventure... flying somewhere alone, just for the day! (say a prayer!;))
now i'm anxiously awaiting 9:00 when ingrid and i will leave for marina del rey.. my new city of residence! its only 5 miles from the airport- all of you prospective visitors!!
Team Ingrid/Laura arrived home in CA, at 8:30 PM, Tuesday evening... safe, sound, and slap happy!!
we covered a lot of ground in the last two days: Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, California.. and in case you're curious about the gas prices:
Des Moines, IA: 3.09
Lincoln, NE: 3.25
North Platte, NE: 3.37
Denver, CO: 3.31
Grand Junction, Co: 3.27
Cedar City, UT: 3.29
Primm, NV: 3.57!!!
the drive was amazingly beautiful... hopefully i'll soon have pictures to share.
laura is tired... but happy to be "home."
laura loves you all...
-laura :)
hello friends...
wow.. i would very much like to post pictures of the amazing trip i've had thus far; however, i'm currently unable to locate the charger for my camera.. so its dead.. argh!
my last visit to de witt was great!!! brother b cruised into town on thursday. we celebrated chloe's birthday then i spent some time in town at jaime m's house. it was shocking to me to hear her little girl call her mommy. i don't know why, she's been a mommy for a while.. i guess maybe because we've been friends since we were young, young kids and she hasn't changed a bit! anyway.. it was great visiting with her, shannon, and cathy.
friday was a busy day with preparing to leave. i did get to have lunch with my grandma m, uncle tom, and aunt mary.
that night dad bought and grilled some great steaks and pork chops. brothers dan and brian were there along with meghan and uncle tom, mom, dad, and chloe. after dinner we had a little bonfire at which we were joined by aunt tracey, uncle murl, karin, hannah, grandma, aunt margo, and fletcher. it was great to spend a little time with everyone before leaving town..
saturday morning i met up at the salon in de witt to see cathy, who works there, her son, caleb, that her mom brought in, jamie and ireland (who was getting a hair cut), and shannon and ella (her daughter). shannon, ella, and i went to the new coffee shop in de witt after that.. i had a GREAT vanilla latte.. if you live in the area and you haven't been.. i highly recommend it! i really enjoyed being able to spend so much time with shannon, too... its been too long!!
brother brian took me to the airport to pick up my rental car on his way out of town.. he's such a great older brother.. sad i won't get to see him as much, either, but its been a great few years of road trips, 56 Hope Road shows, cookouts, dinner, etc..
so i drove the car back to d-town and mom helped me pack it up... hmmm.. yeah.. not so fun..... anyway..
i was sad to leave the farm saturday. though its been 8 years since i've lived there, its been nice to be only a few hours (5-6) away. if you haven't heard me say it already, i'm a big fan of my parents.. I actually thought i'd never leave the mid-west because i wouldn't ever want to be out of driving distance from them.. but the time has come. it isn't as though i love them any less, in fact, quite the opposite as with each year of adulthood, my love, admiration, and respect for them continues to grow. basically, i just realized that they're young and healthy (God-willing) and if there's a time to explore, its now! mom is probably the best friend a girl could ask for, so i'll certainly miss her frequent trips up north and spending time with her when i would head south, but we also talk quite often on the phone and there's a plan in place for her to visit this june. dad will also be in CA for business this summer so we'll get to hang out then and the plan is for mom and dad to come out together sometime, too! :) the CA family is going to love the IA fam! and vise versa!
i went to des moines on saturday and had a fantastic time at friend-leanne's house! leanne is also close friend from high school who now lives in DM with her great husband, scott, and lovely little boy, Will (big fan of that kid, too!). Leanne and Scott hosted a lovely evening with a few other high school friends with whom i've not hung out in years. ah.. it was just beautiful. fruits, veges and appropriate dips, patio, great weather, wine, fire pit, 'smores (or schmores.. however you'd like to say it).. great discussions, laughter, memories, etc.. beautiful..
sunday, leanne, scott, will, and i went to mass together. great service.. beautiful church, homily, community... it was the first time i've fully participated in the mass with leanne. plus, i really enjoyed holding will.. seriously, wait until you see pictures of this kid!
we had a little lunch after mass and went to the des moines river walk and explored down town a bit. later we ate at a fabulous 50's diner.. so fun!
and after an eventful sunday, i took off for omaha, where i picked ingrid up at the airport. we headed for lincoln where we stayed with her beautiful grandma! oh i love this woman! i met her last december at ingrid's brother's wedding. her and i just hit it off so it did the heart good to see her again! she had boxed wine and cheese waiting for us.. along with easter candy and dried fruit as gifts on our beds! she was a great hostess and i wish we could have spent more time with her.. but alas.. we had to get on the road as we had a 10 hour drive ahead of us.
so today we drove from lincoln, ne, to grand junction, co.. where we currently reside. we drove through our first set of mountains today it was beautiful and much less scary than i expected, as the driver. and... when you look out the window of our hotel room.. the mountains are right there!! beautiful.
so i suppose its time to rest.. we did gain an hour in the drive west today.. oh, and we named our rental car, Fival. :)
ingrid's been a great road trip partner.. i'm certainly quite thankful for her presence on this trip!!!
goodnight friends.. and thanks for checking in!!
love
laura
'twas a tearful goodbye sunday morning as i left 998 and headed for the hometown where I would stay with my parents for a week..
i now find myself sitting in the De Witt (Frances Battnam Wagner) library at a table I haven't sat in for almost a decade. There's one other young woman here but other than that, good ol' bob frank is reading papers along with a few other elderly gentleman who seem to be wandering around checking out different paperbacks and periodicals.
the smell of the library brings back memories of my younger years... the excitement of the summer was scanning the shelves, anticipating the next delightful book of fiction. i used to love fiction..
i sit staring out the window to the church where my parents were married, my were grandparents married, my mom was confirmed, my brothers and i were confirmed, i can see the window to the little cold room where i taught kindergarten sunday school..... oy
its terribly windy down here in the prairie... and warm. feels like summer, already!
i'm trying to tie up loose ends to prepare for my work in CA.. i guess i'm not trying that hard if i'm typing this blog, however.. i plan to get there soon. i have a few more online tests to take and some paperwork to send in.
tonight i'm going to see Jesus Christ Super Star with my mom and hang out with my dear Jen F's little brother who lives in Davenport.
tomorrow is chloe's (niece) birthday. brother brian is coming to town, as well, to put in a little sibling time before i head out. after chloe's birthday dinner i'm going out with the girls (high school friends) who live in dewitt.
friday is the last family dinner and saturday i take off for Des Moines where i'll stay with a girlfriend from high school and her husband. we're hoping to have a cookout that night with all the dewittians living in the des moines area... either way it will be great to spend time with her and her little fam before heading west..
which i'll do on sunday. i'm picking my friend, ingrid (who lives in LA), up at the airport in omaha on sunday. we're staying at her grandma's house in Lincoln, NE that night. Monday we're headed to Colorado where we'll spend the night. tuesday we'll head for LA! Wednesday I'll move into my new CA apartment...
whirlwind.....
time to finish that paperwork! ;-)
i wrote this on Saturday, my last day in the studio, but forgot to publish it:
"here i sit, on the hardwood floors, making real, the name "laptop." waiting for matt to come back, who'd been showing my apartment and is kindly going to check me out early so i can turn in my keys and head out to neighbor brendan's graduation party.
oy
the studio is as clean as it was the day i moved in with the exception of a few random things, for which i've not found a home during in my packing. the creaking floors echo throughout the small studio, and the smell of cleaning supplies waft through the air.
the state of the studio jogs my memory to April of '06 when i was apartment searching and the day i looked at this one. i'd looked at so many places but something compelled me to take this little studio with it's orchid pink bathtub. there were a lot of things i liked about it, but mostly it was just one of those "gut feelings." well, looking back, i'm sure it was God, as too many blessings have come from living here that couldn't have been determined by mere un-spiritual fate. :)
last night was beautiful..
thanks to all of you who stopped by and to those who were with us in spirit. i've always been grateful for all of you, and have recognized how blessed i've been with such an amazing community of friends.. but last night, was a true testimony of your love and friendship! each of you have touched my life in so many meaningful ways....
did you know that when i moved to st. paul, into the dorms of concordia, i was crying? that i cried, almost daily, for the entire first semester. that when i went home for winter break i begged my mom to let me stay and go to a local 2-year school in iowa? hard to believe i almost missed 8 incredible years of life, here in st. paul. i fell in love with a city.. not because of the buildings, all the activity, or even the pubs (despite what you may think!!!), but because of the people.. and if you're reading this, you're probably one of those people.
ah.... my thoughts are scattered and my heart is torn. i'm excited to see what God has in store for me, but my heart is heavy as i begin to realize that i'm really leaving.. and now... i think matt is here to sign me out..
i can't say it enough..... thank you.. i love you all!!!
I had dinner plans, last night, with my dear friend Jake. I thought it odd that he actually wanted to have dinner in St. Paul, (vs. Minneapolis) as this is the common battle between us when we get together. =) I prefer good ol' St. Paul, of course, so I figured he was going easy on me this time, with it being our "last supper" and all. Either way, I was fine with it!
He picked me up and we had dinner at Punch.... my favorite! We were having a nice time, when all of the sudden Jake wanted to get out of the restaurant. I was a little shocked at this abrupt change, as I wasn't even done with my dinner (or wine!). Its not all that terribly unusual for Jake to get impatient with my slow eating, but he was much more persistent in wanting to leave this time. Despite this, I took my time finishing my food! Ha! I knew we were going to get a drink after dinner but this was my last night at Punch and I was going to savor it.
On the car ride to wherever we were going, I expressed my sincere concern for Jake's sudden irritability in the restaurant. We were talking (well, it was mostly me doing the talking) about this.. all of the way into O'Garas. Then Jake says to me, "there's only a few of us, but ..." and I can't remember what he said next, because I looked to where he was pointing and there were BJ and Ben!!!! ahhhh.... and this was the real reason jake wanted to leave Punch. I was instantly humbled and felt bad for giving Jake such a hard time! This was a fantastic surprise!!!
Jake, BJ, and Ben are good friends of mine from college- Concordia- where I was welcomed into their little circle of friends at the end of my freshman year. Over the course of those years, they became the kind of friends, as most of my close friends from Concordia, in which the closeness never ends... no matter how much time elapses between visits, there are years of meaningful memories, conversations, disagreements, laughter, tears, joy, Eddies and Gladys', etc... that bond us.. well.. forever. As BJ would say, "you'll always be a best friend, no matter how often we talk." oh tears...
(This is the best my camera phone could do!)
It was an absolute delight to be surprised by this gathering... and just when i thought the surprise was over, Ekbar showed up! Oh joy! I had a great night with these fellas. And.. it was a tearful goodbye, for even though they will always be near to my heart, to the very core of who I am today, I will miss being in the presence of their beautiful souls.
Thanks, Jake. :)
i've had a great last few weeks in the twin cities... here are a few pics! press the + button to speed up the reel and hover over a pic to see a caption!! enjoy!!
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During the early fall of 2002, I went to Williams arena to watch my good friend, Eric (from high school), run in a track meet for the University of Iowa. I had just finished up a busy summer.. I spent a month living back home on the farm, roging the bean field for an allowance and attending class in Davenport to become a nursing assistant, as was required by the College of St. Catherine before I entered the nursing program. In addition, I also had to take Microbiology, Chemistry, upon returning to the cities.
As I sat in the bleachers with Eric's family, that fall, having just started my nursing classes, two of his aunts were excited to hear that I was going to be a nurse, as they both were nurses, as well, and loved their careers. They both strongly suggested that since I had my NA license, I should work as an NA while in nursing school. Hmm.. the idea hadn't really dawned on me and the thought of working at a big city hospital really intimidated me.. but one of his aunts worked at this hospital in St. Paul, so she gave me her e-mail and said that I should let her know if I was interested.
After a little discerning (and probably a lot of conversations with mom), I decided to go for it. I interviewed and was hired. I had no idea.... no idea what joy, pain, growth, happiness, sorrow, humility, frustration, excitement, friendship, and accomplishment I would experience in that building. Looking back, I'm humbled by God's concern for my life and how He has worked through all of these details.
Yesterday was my last day at that hospital.
And though I'm trilled and excited for whatever lies ahead, I'm sad to say good-bye to the people who have been so influential in my career as a nurse... and my journey of life as a person.
One of those people is "Kelly the boy." I met Kelly after my interview with the nurse manager. She took me out to the floor and introduced me to Kelly who had also just started as a nursing assistant with aspirations to be a nurse. That was October of 2002... he trained me in as an NA and we traveled through nursing life together, working as aides, graduating college, take the boards, becoming nurses, novice nurses, chemo certification, giving chemo, failing, succeeding, etc etc.
Kelly has become one of my closest friends and I will miss him... his companionship at the hospital (brightened my entire day just knowing he was there with me), running into him at Shamrocks, going with him to the Nook, strongbows, riding bikes or riding together to work, coffee, wine, religion, politics, front yards, back yards, the world... though our opinions were almost always different on big subjects, we shared in fantastic conversations in which we both walked away better people! oh kelly....
as a going away gift, he gave me a journal with a beautiful poem about friendship by Kahlil Gibran written on the inside. Kelly is truly one of the most loving and kind people I've ever known.
and you wonder why i cry so much! :)
Our last night at the Nook.. strongbows and frozen pizza!
i should have gone to bed hours ago.. but alas, i did not. i did manage to get a ton of things done for this travel nursing gig (gobs of paper work, tests, records, etc to be turned in)... laundry washed, bills paid, lunch made and even managed to get in some quality time with the neighbor boys, which included sampling stacy's grandmother's homemade chocolate chip cookies.. (think phoebe, "ness layyy tohhllll huas"! :)
anyway.. tonight as i was wrapping my sandwich for tomorrow's lunch in saran wrap (due to my lack of baggies), i was swept back to the memories of working at a suburban swanky golf course/club here in the Twin Cities. If you didn't know this fact about me, you're probably somewhat surprised that i have even stepped foot on a golf course, let alone worked there! :) I was the beer-cart girl as well as a server at the 9th hole refreshment cabin and part of my job was making/wrapping sandwiches! There were elements of this job that I enjoyed and though i would never want to work there again, I am thankful for the experience and all that i learned.
So, tonight as i reminisced the good ol' days "country-bumpkin stuck in a rich man's world of golf"... i recall a story i think you all might enjoy. i was out on the beer cart and some guy flagged me down and hollered something about leaving his sandwich at one of the holes but to check in the pro-shop because someone may have found it and dropped it off. It seemed odd to me that the guy would set his sandwich down at any of the holes instead of in his cart and even more so that he expected someone to pick it up and return it to the pro-shop. nonetheless.. i barely knew enough golf etiquette to know not to drive over the green so i figured i'd better do whatever he said.
Well, there's laura driving around the golf course trying desperately to find this golfer's sandwich.. which i didn't find. frustrated and worried about the time that was quickly elapsing.. i headed over to the pro-shop.. no sandwich there either.
finally I returned to the 9th hole refreshment stand where we made all of these sandwiches. i quickly threw together a new one, guessing at his meat and cheese preference, and took off on a hunt to find him on the back nine. when i did find him.... i smiled my best smile and muttered, "I'm so sorry... I couldn't find your sandwich.. so I made you a new one."
he laughed..... and he laughed...
yes, any of you golfers are probably well aware as to why he was laughing at me.
he finally calmed himself enough so better to explain that it wasn't a sandwich he'd lost, rather, his sand-wedge. ah... the slow and humbled head knod. life can be so humbling, fortunately, its quite entertaining later.
hmm.. I suppose this story will pop into my mind every time I'm out of baggies and wrapping my sandwich in saran wrap. =)