Getting Hired and Getting Respect

So first a little good news.  As I said in my last post, I am in the process of getting hired in by the State.  No longer will I be a contract employee working for Manpower.  No longer will I be 'less' of a team member.  No longer will I go without the benefits of most full times jobs like insurance, retirement, sick time, paid time off, and overtime.

I am still holding my breath a bit though, as I'm not finished with the hiring process.  I guess I'll recount what's happened so far.

So in the first weeks of October I was called up by the HR department of the correctional facility where I work.  They actually called me while I was working (I guess they knew where I was!) and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for a nursing position at the facility.  I actually had to pause for a moment and wonder if they knew I was currently working as a nurse at the facility.  It only took me a moment to realize that they were offering the chance to get hired in by the state.

I of course said yes, and then all the drama began in earnest.  I think I mentioned that I was working with another nurse that had previously been hired in by the state, but had to quit when she got pregnant.  It seems that while on probation (all new hires are on probation for their first year) you can't take that much time off in a single chunk.  How that doesn't violate the Family Leave Act still baffles me.  Anyway, she had recently come back as a fellow contract employee, and she too was being offered the chance to interview.

Take my mind and take my pain...

This is just a short post, but I wanted to share a few things.  First and foremost, I'm still happy.  I think I've figured out why it's so difficult to write about why I'm happy... because there has been a part of me that's expecting it to end.   I've had stretches of good times before, but it's always felt like some other shoe was going to drop.  That there was some problem just lurking around the corner, and that said problem was going to come out and take my knees out leaving me a kneeling weeping mess.

But that's just not happening.  Sure, I still have the occasional bad day.  Sure, I'm still sad about certain things.  Sure, I know that my life isn't yet full and that there are many other things that I want to accomplish... but none of those things can keep my attention.  Instead anytime I start to feel down, there is some happiness lurking around a corner waiting to help me stand up straight and smile.

In the last year or so of blogging I'd find myself particularly drawn down by certain songs.  Sometimes the lyrics would get me, but more often than not it's just the sad tone that would bring my emotions crashing down.  Well... I've just heard a sad song that pierces through my heart and brings a tear to my eye.  But you know what?  I'm still smiling.