An Appropriate Time to Share

Home Health was (sometimes) like being paid to be on vacation! Although there were no cocktails with little umbrellas in them and no poolside lounge chairs. And…you didn’t get paid for driving time…paperwork time…or phone call time. Nonetheless, you made your schedule, and that felt liberating! After all, how many jobs allow you to schedule work hours around your personal life instead of the other way around? On a beautiful day, instead of being confined inside a hospital, you’re out enjoying the fresh air! That was one part of Home Health that was undeniably exceptional!

One day, when I was driving the back road from Santa Paula to Ojai on my way to visit a patient, I remember thinking—it just doesn’t get any better than this! The sun felt warm, the windows were down, and the breeze was pleasantly warm as well. With Fleetwood Mac on the radio, I sang along as I drove the country road that curved its way around mountains.

I had never visited this patient before, but I knew that the address was somewhere up on the summit, between Santa Paula and Ojai. As I turned onto the road that the Thomas Guide directed me to (we did not have navigation apps then...can you imagine?), the trees and brush that had been spread out on both sides of the road became thicker and thicker. The remote area became so engulfed by the surrounding dense forest that the road was no longer visible! I was in an isolated location in the backwoods. I swear I could almost hear banjos playing (ok, a little exaggerated maybe, but it was unsettling!) Turned out, the patient lived in a small trailer far off the beaten path. Home Health was truly an adventure!

Note: I wrote this one a while ago, and with the recent passing of Christine McVie, it seemed like an appropriate time to share. For most of us, the music of Fleetwood Mac was a treasure throughout our lives, and McVie was responsible for many of the band's big hits. She wrote "The Chain," "As Long as You Follow," "Don't Stop," and "World Turning," among many others. My personal favorite is "Songbird." I just read an article that said it was her favorite too! What's your favorite?

R.I.P. Christine McVie - you will truly be missed.