Laundry Mat

I was "on-call" for Neurology tonight. Basically, that means that I have to follow a resident after hours typically from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. to see new patients. The resident on-call paged me around 5:15 p.m. After seeing 2 patients in about an hour's time, she let us go home. Gotta love Neurology calls :). The first patient was a woman with known epilepsy who just delivered a baby this morning. We suspected pseudoseizures after multiple unsuccessful IV placement attempts. The second patient was a guy ready to be discharged. He was admitted for a stroke workup.

When we walked into his room, his wife was there at the bedside. The resident introduced me and the wife got excited that she knows me. So I was trying to figure out how she knows me. Was she one of my previous patients? Does she work at the neighborhood diner I go too? Maybe she works at Bar-B-Q heaven? I was thinking hard but I just couldn't place her. I figured I'll just ask her when it's time for us to leave. But her husband beat me to it :). He asked her how she knows me. She said that she knows me from the laundry mat. Oh yeah, how can I forget? I just remember seeing her there last week. Her dad is the minister of the church who owns the strip mall at the corner which includes the laundry mat. It's funny how sometimes you don't recognize people when you see them in unexpected places.

I think I have been telling you all that I want to go to Central/South America. My good friend Edith lives in Ecuador but her husband will get reassigned next July so I was waiting to decide which country to go to based on their assignment. Her husband is in Foreign Service. But an opportunity came up through my school so I have made a decision sooner rather than later. I'll be going to Guatemala! It's not until October 2008 but I'm already planning for it :). I just got my new passport yesterday issued by the Chicago consulate ( My 3 previous passports were issued in Manila, New York, and Washington D.C., I have really moved a lot!)

So mom, I don't really have an idea how safe the country is. But can you really imagine any other single gal more adventurous and more adaptable than me? ;). So I think I will be ok. And yes dad, there is a group worship service in Guatemala. I would really love to meet the brethren there. PB, since you're earning a lot of money now, be sure to make the final payments on our house :). (In PB's congregation there's actually a sister who serves as a Spanish translator during the worship service. I'll make it a point to meet her when I visit PB.)

So I think my dream of being able to visit all our places of worship all over the world is slowly but surely becoming a reality. I once dreamed that I'll be a minister's wife and be assigned to all these places. But you know what, I realized that with me being single, I actually have more flexibility in visiting and living in all of these places. Funny how life turns out. I think I may just have conquered one of my final major fears. I used to have a fear of being raped. I got past that. I still pray that it will never happen but you know what, even if it did, I know I will survive that. I used to have a fear that I will not have children. But now I think, I can always adopt. I used to have a fear of being single, especially living and working in a country other than the US and the Philippines. But I've met quite a few remarkable women who make these kind of plans irregardless of their relationship status. And of course, there always have been men who make plans without regard to their marital status. So I am making plans as a single woman. A husband would be nice ;). But obviously not necessarily a prerequisite for my plans to work out. Someone told me once that God doesn't necessarily give everyone a partner in life. Who knows what God has in store for me? I think I'll be happy either way :). A friend was just trying to set me up with his brother today. I just smiled. I have places to go.. ;).