Freud and Goat Cheese

I successfully survived midterms this past week and anxiously await my grades. I still feel that pesky 9-year old inside, her whole sense of good and evil, right and wrong hinging upon a grade decided upon by a (no-doubt) exhausted teacher.

Or maybe a double PhD'd-professor. I still love school like the gigantic school nerd I am and still relish the feeling of a nice "A" in the inbox.

We'll see on this one. It wasn't my best work only because I haven't had as much time as I'd prefer on this coursework! I'm looking forward to this very trying Ecumenical Councils class being complete.

However, I received some terrific news late on Friday afternoon, after I returned from a state department of health meeting downtown Chicago on Friday. I was going to do the proverbial escape after the meeting and go home to do some online FEMA education and to start studying for another certification exam. Then Nurse Jackie texted me and asked me to come in after the meeting and I'm glad I did. Not to be dramatic or anything, but she reinflated me and in 60 seconds, made me feel like the past three years of stomach acid and Nexium were worth it.

It appears that my job title and responsibilities are changing again. For the better. I think my position in operations is becoming more of a "patient safety" position. I've been thinking this for years- if we only provide excellent, safe, quality patient care for our patients; the patient satisfaction (and money!) will come. We would not have such a dire financial picture if we provided safe, quality care in the first place.

And now I get to put my money where my mouth is...

This is the FIRST Sunday in ages where I haven't felt the "Sunday's." And I took a huge step back to gain some perspective.

[To be completely, utterly honest, I was **this** close to accepting a position at a competing hospital. Talk about the 11th hour. Actually, it was 11:58.]

As a result of this change and several other realizations, we're making a pledge. From now until Thanksgiving, we are verbally stating 3 things for which we're grateful. It can be something as bottom-line as great insurance benefits or something as little as a functioning wine corkscrew. But we're taking a grateful stance these next few weeks and I invite you to do the same.


For what are you grateful?

How far have you come on your life journey?

What have you achieved that you never thought was possible?

How would things be so very different without your friends or family?


We've been reflecting on our St. Fozzie's family this weekend. We had great times both Friday and Saturday with people we never would have met if we didn't take the plunge to move out to Chicagoland. On Friday, we hosted Jerry, the Finance Guy, who spent no fewer than 8 hours with me on my budgets, using creative accounting to allow the flourishing outpatient areas to avoid budget cuts. He singlehandedly helped me keep certain service lines available to our communities. So we had he and his wife over Friday night for excellent food (Jack cooked, obviously!), good wine, and great stories. In fact, they challenged us to visit Istanbul in the next few years, after hearing about my angst in Ecumenical Councils!

Then last night, one of the physicians and her husband invited Jack and I to a play downtown, called "Freud's Last Session." It's basically Freud arguing against God and for atheism and C.S. Lewis fighting Freud's ideas with sound, theological logic. Before the play, we dined at Sola, a restaurant on the north side, where three miracles occurred. One, Jack had the best lamb chops he's ever experienced. Two, the table made me eat brussel spouts and they were simply phenomenal (This is big; I once got grounded for a WEEK from my BIKE for not eating brussel sprouts!). Three, Jack ate goat cheese and Szechuan-pepper ICE CREAM.

The pepper part was actually pretty good. The goat cheese? It tasted a little like "barn!" Nonetheless, we would never had either experience with either couple if we hadn't had the courage to try something new.

So today, I'm thankful for our opportunities, our friends and beloved co-workers out here in Chicagoland, and for (gulp) goat cheese-pepper ice cream!