Today was not a good day at work. The unit was full, a lot of the patients were angry about being there, and far too sick to be released and the staff's nerves were frazzled. These days will happen. They go in cycles and these are one of the more difficult times. It will get better sooner or later but after hearing a litany of profanities all day, being told about how incompetent I am and hearing repeated threats that I will be sued/arrested/killed, etc. it tends to get to a person. To make matters worse, it was a warm sunny day for the first time in months, and we were all stuck inside. Maybe that is why the patients were so agitated.

Either way, it was a good day to leave work which I did with a great deal of alacrity once I was able. I was a great day to drive with the sun roof open, and the satellite radio cranked. Too bad all of the cars in front of me did not seem to think that driving as fast as I like to drive was part of their way to have a good time driving home. For some reason, I have found that part of the best way to enjoy driving with the sun roof open and the music turned up is to do the same, only drive the car faster. People in this are drive slow. Real slow. It drives me nuts. The whole driving conservatively thing is one area that I admit that I have failed to be very Zen about, and probably always will and did little to soothe my frazzled nerves.

Despite my rather sluggish peers' attempts to reform me, I eventually did get home alive and well and was reminded of something that is far more important in life that the opinions of a few select individuals who struggle with illnesses that impair their insight. My husband and four year old son were in the front yard cleaning up the remnants of the wind storms that have torn apart the trees this winter and the gravel the township throws on the road to make it passable to get to work in the snow when I got there. The reception that my son gave me could not have been any more joyful if he tried. He immediately abandoned helping Daddy (a very important job, indeed) and came running up to my car shouting for "MOMMY!" loud enough to hear over the satellite radio and the gravel on the road. He was so excited to see me that one would have thought that he had not seen me in months. I have not felt so important in a long time. Money, prestige, respect, all of those things are nice perks of being a doctor, but their value pales in comparison to the love of a child. There are joys in life that are easily taken for granted, but can mean so much.

Thanks, MRM for making my day.
Love, Mommy