the starter job

One of the unique opportunities that comes with having a recent graduate as a roommate is the chance to remember when I was there myself about 37 years ago. I accepted a job in Memphis because that's where the boyfriend lived so, well. There ya go. After my extremely pissed off Daddy drove the U-Haul full of shit back to Dyersburg, I sat around and pondered my options for about two months. There was only one game in town and I signed up because it was home and it was familiar. Within a few months, I had moved into an apartment of my own. Boyfriend dumped me and I immediately found places to go where people hang out and drink beer. My future husband was a bartender/fireman when we met. The fireman thing went by the wayside pretty quick so he went to the local rubber plant where he stayed forever as long as it took for them to wear his ass out.

Our hospital has been sold twice during the time that I've been there. With each and every change of ownership comes major changes to "the rules." Same thing with the Ohio based rubber plant that sold out from under the 'burg several times + a merger or two. Usually, it's about the money. No...like ALWAYS. Somewhere along the road to American healthcare, I realized that the whole thing is rigged. Hospitals have to overcharge insurance patients to pay for the ones who abuse the system. No, I'm not talking about somebody's poor grandma who has diabetes. The ones I despise are the drug seekers..the ones who keep their scrips by showing up regularly at one doc's place or another. Many of 'em promptly go out and sell them on the street or take a long fucked up weekend. Meanwhile, the rest of us are getting up for work and being responsible about knowing that who you are is an extremely personal and sometimes painful existence. But nobody cares because ya'll are just going with the flow. The mortuaries here just LOVE to see ya'll and your sobbing mommas comes walking in. They refuse to bury people because they have no money. Just like healthcare. After a very rough start involging opportunistic awarding of contracts, things seem to be back on track, the ford family not withstanding.

Lest you think I'm not a true hippie, let me explain all that. I'm not speaking of the occasional mood to say to hell with it and walk away. If I don't do that on a regular basis, I'm a freakin' lunatic. I do believe in honor and integrity...doing what you believe is right, even if it might not be according to the MSM and recent polls. Empathy makes life so much more painful, yet the rewards are a total surprise from Big Ernie when they happen. I can say all of this and proudly pronounce that I'm one of the most rabid Doobie Brothers fans on Pecan Lane.

It's all good Babygirl. ^j^