the outdoors are truly great

Nathan and I just got back from a weekend camping trip, and I feel more refreshed and relaxed than any weekend of sitting around watching tv could ever offer. Besides, there's nothing quite like hot dogs roasted with just a touch of dirt, smoke and ash mixed in.

Camping really is a cheap vacation, and if you bring along a pretty good airbed, it's comfortable too! Unfortunately our queen size airbed was just a little larger than the tent door, and it took quite a bit of grunting and shoving to cram it through. And before you make a smart comment about blowing it up ONCE it's inside the tent, there was no electricity nearby, and we had to carry it over to the bathhouse, blow it up and then carry it back. Apparently our electrical outlet that plug into the cigarette lighter in the car is not made for blowing up airbeds. haha.
Saturday night was a flash back in time though. As I was making Ramen noodles, I looked around and we were surrounded by fireflies. I haven't caught a firefly since I was probably four years old. It was so fun to chase them around and try to grab hold of one. Next time we go camping, I will bring a glass jar along to keep a few in and watch them glow for a while. I tried catching a picture of them glowing, but they never would light up at the right time.

Camping is such a great family activity -- it really brings everyone closer. State parks don't charge too much to rent a campsite, and it supports the great outdoors. So next time your bored and want a cheap way to relax, go tenting!

Life is wonderful

I'm more and more impressed every day with the importance of enjoying every single moment of life and making the most of every memory and time with loved ones. I had a patient die recently, and though I'm getting used to taking care of dying patients, it never gets easy to see death slowly, painfuly take over life. Thoughts race through your mind as you see the last few breaths fade away --thoughts that this person was once a vibrant, beautiful life who loved and was loved. My patient that died was completely alone, except for the nurses taking care of her. I found her still -- the nurse had checked on her only 5 or 8 minutes before and she was still breathing, shallow though it was. Her son refused to visit her once she came to our floor, so for two days, she laid silently in her hospital bed, fighting for air. They say hearing is the last sense to go before you die, and it breaks my heart to think of that poor old lady laying there hearing no one nearby. No family to cry over her, no son or daughter to hold her hand, or tuck her blankets tighter around her, or brush her hair back from her face.

I don't know what the circumstances were surrounding the family -- what hard feelings there were that hadn't been let go, or what caused the son to refuse to see her one last time. But it really made me think about my own life. Whatever hard feelings I might harbor towards someone, family or friends -- they are so insignificant in the grand scheme of things! What grudge is worth holding onto when life is never guaranteed, and something could happen to any one of us at any time? Every day that we stay angry towards another person, it becomes just that much easier to not make amends.

I just want to encourage everyone to live life for every single day. It's not worth getting angry over small things. Life is so amazing and wonderful, don't waste a minute of it!