Oh the gloriousness! in The Day To Day Ramblings

Finally finally finally, the day I waited for for so long has arrived. After gambling it all and leaving my straight days job at my old (but oh so exhausting and outgrown and awful) job, I went to straight nights are my new (better, brighter, more beautiful and fascinating and still wonderful) job. I worked 7PM-7AM and I worked every other weekend and I toughed it out. Eventually I got an every third weekend spot (13 less work weekends a year! 26 more days off a year with Rob when we have a whole day to do what we want and whole evenings to eat dinner together and a whole life we can share in together at the same time without work getting in the way!) and that was great. After that I got a day/night position where half the time I worked 7PM-7AM and the other half I worked 7AM-7PM but the catch was I had to go back to every other weekend. Every step 'up' position-wise means giving up the third weekend that is a bonus tacked onto whatever current shift assignment you have. A few more months back of being 50:50 days and nights and I got an every third weekend spot there too! Wahoo! Back to more time off!

Eventually after even more time, I got a straight days spot. Hallelujah! God himself sang with the angels! I swear color returned to my life and there was purpose and no more day sleeping or flipping into/out of day shift or night shift or the blah, endless, soul sucking awfulness of being a night shift worker. But, again, back to every other weekend. And such has been life for nine months. I worked every other (god damn) weekend through football season (so much missed football), through the holidays (so much missed family time), through the Longest Coldest Most Awful Winter Of All Time (so much driving in snow at 6 AM)...but I did it.

But then today. Sweet glorious miraculous beautiful today.

Today I got my every third weekend back. There are no more steps after there. THIS is what I had my eye on when I decided to gamble it and come to this new (wonderful but terrifying) job and what gave me the push to leave my old (awful, painful, stupid) job. It happened. I have a straight days, every third weekend position and it's allllllll mine. twirls in circles happily while the bird chirp and the sun shines and the world is right again

It will start at the end of June so my entire summer will be different. Thankfully by having more weekends off and just by luck that I was assigned to this specific weekend of the three possible every.third.weekend slots, none of my previous set up summer plans need to be changed. It's like kismet, I'm telling you. My camping trips, the three weddings, the volleyball tournaments, the time at the cabin...all of those precious weekends set up months ago with friends and family fall on weekends I will still have off.

AND THE KICKER?! Thanks to our lovely (cough gag cough) governor for outlawing unions, our union is dissolving on July 1st. This means all future position changes anywhere in the hospital will no longer be seniority based within each individual unit but will be HOSPITAL WIDE for anyone to take out of the 1000+ nurses staffed here. Meaning instead of competing against my unit of 100+ nurses for the spot I just got, I would have been competing against 1000+ people and my odds would have been much much lower. Thus, with a 'transition' date of two days before the union dissolves, I will be locked in place and this every third weekend spot is set in stone. It's mine. Mine mine mine. I would kiss the powers that be if I could. What a beautiful way for the universe to work out!

So, if you don't mind, I'll just be over here like Maria on the Alps, singing and swinging and swirling and busting at the seams with all the happies and the thankfuls and the profound gratitude that this happened when it did, how it did, exactly like this. With a summer wide open now with so many unplanned weekends and a fall FULL of football to watch with friends and family in our own little home theater and a winter spent with far less snowy drives, I'm not sure I could be any happier. Thank you, universe. Truly. :)