The Little Luxury Of Time Off.

 

My back porch with Magpie

Time off

Luxuries in my world have become sparse, and hence, heavily scrutinized. I just get too little time off to allow for idle luxuries anymore. They are now pre-planned and weighted. I am also now humbled to be notified by my withering infrastructure to have to allocate ‘recovery’ time into the sparse luxury free time category. For the bulk of my 2022 summer the days started at 6 am. I have had to forego my treasured morning runs so I can arrive at the clinic by 930 am. I work until 8 pm every day. I come home most nights after 9 pm, so worn out and hungry that I internally argue about which needs to be resolved first, or, even if at all. I typically eat dinner at about 930 so fast that I cannot recall what it tasted like. I land in bed 15 minutes later. I would guess I consume 3,000 calories after 9 pm, and less than 500 before. I go to bed with a stomach left on the night shift and a vision of gastric reflux with all its secondary consequences to haunt my comatose sleep. I used to wake up at 2 am to flounder for an hour or so. It was the couple hours of needed slumber that gave way to the demons of the day that could no longer be kept quiet, or silenced. 2 am, eyes open, mind charging, and the little lurking nagging oversights take hold. It's the time I am captured by my unconsciousness and awoken to address the needs of all the patients and clients from the day I just slipped away from. Awoken to face their elusive illnesses and diseases as my own incapacities. Now I wake up at 7 am arguing that the sun must still be up from the night before. Some all-night bender that altered its rhythm? It can’t possibly have been 8 hours from when my eyes slammed shut? There is no longer a slumber with its quiet pre-slumber conversational interlude with my husband. There is the parking the car, walking inside the house and a fog until I question whether my cell phone has been locked out of knowing the correct time. I best describe it as feeling like a professional athlete who is stuck in their Olympic trials’ day after day. An endless loop of running your best time. Swimming your fastest lap, and clearing the endless set of hurdles. I leave my soul on that field, on my veterinary clinic epoxy floors, every single day.

Kirby kisses... the best part of the job, hands down.

Now I realize many will see this as venting/complaining. A complaint for the life I have chosen. It isn’t. I know I can say no. I understand that I have options. The thing is that all of those options aren’t things I think I can live with. For every friend with a pet related emergency that calls, texts, or show up I feel needed. There is immense power, I would argue it is far more powerful than money, fame, and restful toes in the sand (or sleep). I cannot dismiss a plea for help. I cannot excuse it as ‘inconvenient’ or ‘poorly timed’ or ignore it. I just dig deeply, plow my nose into the ground harder and deeper, and hope my absent happy game face isn’t too obvious. The issue is the consequence for the need. The exhaustion for the hours and days that run into each other and drain the engine in the process.

Abby never has a day she doesn't go googly-eyed-happy over.

I was reading a post about the life inside vetmed as of late. For many of us COVID came on like a veiled and sinister mysterious uninvited house guest.  We had no idea of what we were in for. Absent clients stuck in their homes with their (hopefully) very happy and healthy pets just watching the days of monotonous a quarantine drag on? Would it be a repetitive cycle of wash, rinse, repeat, stay inside and pray your pet doesn't get sick. Or, would we all hide and survive, or chose to work and die? I made an internal promise that my vet clinic was going to stay open, be there for our patients, and weather this storm as we have the previous 80 years of storms, even if it meant I did it alone. My pets are the most important part of my life. I know that I am not alone in saying that, and I am going to be there for them, and all of the rest of those who are for their parents what mine are to me. Two years later and we have made it through. Unbelievably we were slow for a few weeks of COVID and then a scant few weeks later the sky-rocketing demand for everything pet related blew up. It has been unyielding and unprecedented. I have never known such need. We have never heard from so many people so desperate for help. We have dozens of new clients seeking care for their pets because the ER has a 24 or more hour wait. Or they tell clients that they can only make time to see them if their pet is imminently dying. Who can wait for that? 

Allie, our amazing technician and our resident cat Saffie

I didn't come here to have a life of routine rabies vaccines and spays/neuters. I came here to be the place you go when your pets aren't healthy. 

It has become a storm. An unparalleled time and consequences that I cannot accept even at the expense of the machine that attempts to answer the call.

I say all this knowing that along with the incredible demand for help there is immense gratitude and new life-long friends we have gained. The other side of a pandemic is the lives that aren't so inclined to be a little nicer, a little more compassionate, and a little more grateful that we are all still alive. It has been really hard to still want to help the mean people. The people who are mean to the staff and sweet as pie to the vets. The people who are soo ridiculous they don’t think my staff tells me. We know. It’s a small family. We take care of our own.

Hamilton. Our newest act of kindness and the reason we are who we are.

There are lessons we are all going to learn in the hardest of days. These are the people we will be remembered as. 

Remember the people who make you feel good about who you are, and why you are here.. here's to a few (of the many) people who I rely on everyday.

Thank you to all of you who help JVC be the place where miracles happen, and help nudge them along their path with your big hearts and your endless smiles.