Rise and Shine

Good morning. I am awake at this early hour as usual. My job at the nursing home requires me to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5:30 or 6:30 AM, depending on the job I am assigned to for the day. The consequence? I wake up around 6 on my days off. I slept until 6:45 today. Impressive. I wish I could sleep in, but I have a rhythm. Asleep around 10 or 11 PM and up in between 5 and 7 AM. Sigh. Will I ever sleep in again? I am a soon-to-be graduate student and budding ornithologist, so I can safely say that my days of sleeping in are probably over forever. The early bird catches the worm, I guess.

The home has been eventful. It is always interesting at that place. Yesterday I was assigned to the "Trays" job. There are different positions in the kitchen and everyone is assigned to one each day. For example, there are the cooks, the baker, the dishwasher, day dining room servers, etc. You can find me as the dishwasher, trays person (my favorite!), day dining room 1 and 2, or the pots scrubber. I love when I am assigned to trays, I work 5:30- 1:30, I do not have to take orders, no dishroom, and I get to dish out the food. The trays person has the pleasure (or is it the horror...?) of serving meals in the Memory Care wing. Yesterday we had a resident run away from the nurses.

"I have to leave!!!!!! I want to see my daughter!!! LET ME OUT OF THIS AWFUL PLACE!!!!" wails the resident as she briskly walks out of the dining room.

Sometimes the certain residents will wail and cry, state that he or she is leaving. The inevitable stares me in the face every day. Sometimes I wish the fountain of youth actually existed.