A step further

It’s the end of an era.  In many ways.

Tuesdays were Dada and Kiddo lunch at McDonalds together.  It was our thing.  The cleaning staff would come in and it’s easier if we were gone, so it became a little tradition with Kiddo and myself.  If was something I looked forward to with her.  With summer here, J is around and that’s not a bad thing, but Kiddo may or may not want J with us for those lunches.  By the time J is back in school, we will have moved and Kiddo will be in school as well.  So, those lunches, the (almost) year of Kiddo Dada lunch time is closing or closed.  Yes, we may do it again in some form or another as we all transition to the next school year, but it won’t be the same.  

It’s bittersweet.  I’m happy that I had that time with her.  It was so much fun.  So much us.  Just her and I.  J came with this last week and took some pics.  She said it was just very us, very much Kiddo and Dada.  We have a routine.  We have a flow.  But, Kiddo will be in school.  How exciting and fun.  And I’m not going to be a puddle of lonely sad Dada on her first day of school!  It’s going to be a transition, for all of us, but it’ll be a good one and in those changes, we will find our new routine and patterns.  

But, we did see a MouseLou friend on the walk to the mall this last week for that Dada Kiddo lunch.  Bad pic, but lil guy was skittish.  

Since eras are ending….

I got an email yesterday informing me that my Pharm Lic was about to expire and that I needed to apply for renewal with all my continue education credits.  I didn’t do any credit hours.  I’m not in America.  I won’t be working in Pharmacy, even if we went back; I was burnt out on that field and line of work.  I wish it was that I could just count 30 pills, jam them into a vile, smack a label on it, and have you on your way, but it don’t work like that.  As for your doc telling you that it wasn’t an expensive med… Yeah, the insurance has something else to say about that and you have a co-pay, so IDK why you’re screaming at me about that, but maybe call your insurance and if your doc knew what the med costs, why isn’t he working here next to me instead of in a completely different building in a different city?  Maybe you should call the doc and complain to him/her about the price and tell them if it’s so cheap they can pay for it… Or, just scream at me some more.  That’ll help.

Not that there wasn’t good times.  JY and JR and myself hustling on a Saturday to get it done, get ahead, and get closed at 4pm exactly.  There’s a world series game on.  HAHA. The times I floated and got to work with some different staffs.  The drive thru lady who everyone called my girlfriend because she was always smiling and sweet with me.  Who also, between my Spanish and her English, maybe said 10 words to me over the years that made sense to me and vice versa, but she would ask for me and smile at me and just be happy to see me… Even when it was for a med pick up for her kid or something.  Making the best of a bad situation?  Maybe it was just a friendly face and constant smile and (even on stressful days) taking a minute to recognize those that were a familiar and friendly face.

Prayer card lady is one that stands out to me.  JY was on leave, his wife Jenny was working with me that night.  It was the end of the night.  Pretty slow.  Near Xmas.  A car pulls into the drive thru lane.  Hispanic mother with her children.  Antibiotic mix for child, aged 5 or 6, if I recall.  Strep throat with ear and sinus involvement.  APAP (Tylenol) for fever.  With co-pay it was going to be $22.  She asked if she could split it onto three cards.  These were poor people with a sick child.  Jen and I got to work.  Change this to that.  Sub this for the other.  Use generic here.  Swap dose and times per day.  Insurance would only pay APAP if QID (four times daily, instead of three) so, take Q8 additional dose PRN for fever breakthrough.  There, QID dose.  Covered.  When the woman came back around, we informed her we got it all covered and there was no co-pay.  She insisted on giving Jen and I a prayer card and she told us that we helped save her Xmas.  

The woman who wanted liquid vitamin C.  Ummmmmm….. Orange Juice?????  

But I was also in house for an armed robbery.  Constant changes in protocols.  Management throwing us under the bus repeatedly.  Lack of manpower and hours.  Or switching to mail order pharm and the constant BS and the huge machine that was more likely to grind up employees and patients in the cogs of it’s machine.  

Things change.  Life transitions.  Sometimes you just need to sit with that.

Let’s go, Kiddo…. We’re at a place to turn the page onto a new chapter.

PS. Had a lunch with J yesterday.  Beef noodle soup.  A rooster? chicken? decided to show up and make a ruckus.  HAHA