Pg 23- My Story

Good day to you all and thank you for coming back to my blog.  If this is the first time you have entered you may want to start where it says Pg 1 – My Life and follow this story.

The movers came and loaded up the truck and we were on our way for our new adventure in Maryland.  We had a long drive ahead of us and decided that we would make a little vacation out of it. I still had four kids and one grandchild moving with me which made me happy. We drove through North
Carolina to see my parents. We were lucky enough to see my parents, my sisters Nanci and Beverly, their kids, and my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Bill.  It was a fun reunion with cook outs and swimming and the cousins just hanging out.  Since we haven’t lived in the same town with relatives for such a long time, my kids really don’t get a chance to see their cousins, so this was great.

We made it to Maryland, and found our house.  This house was the biggest house I think we ever stayed in. We were just renting and it had three floors. But the rooms were so large we were able use the basement as storage. I didn’t unpack everything because Jimmy had a year contract and we were not sure how long we were going to be here.  Plus this house had a washer and dryer and refrigerator so we stored ours in the basement.  I decided that we had to make an adventure out of this move.  After all I am not sure we would ever have the money to visit this far north so what a way to travel and see the United States, just get jobs in different states.  So far we have lived in Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, and Indiana.  We have enjoyed down town Chicago with all the wonderful museums, the River Walk in San Antonio, Mt Scott and buffalo in Lawton, and the wonderful zoo in Indiana, just to name a few.  

Our first tourist attraction was going to Washington DC.  The White house was a lot smaller than I thought it would be and the neighborhood is nothing to be desired to live in. The Smithsonian Institution was fantastic to see.  We enjoyed the dinosaurs, the Egypt exhibits, and the play house for Adias to see and play and learn in. My girls had to see the blue diamond that was on the movie The Titanic.  

We went to the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, walking along the boardwalk and checking out the ships. We also went to the aquarium with dinner at Planet Hollywood.  

Finally I got a job as a Paramedic. It was not an easy thing to do. First the state told me they didn’t accept graduates from any other states. Once I showed them my National Registry Card, they accepted me and I just had to take their protocol test.  I found a company called Life Star Response who hired me and while I was waiting on the paper work my job was to clean and stock ambulances.  I really didn’t mind that job after all, I have not worked in an ambulance yet so everything to me was still quite new. 

 I would tell anyone who is going to school for paramedic to work as an EMT first. It was pretty scary to be the one in charge when you have not had any experience. I had a great EMT that showed me the ropes and when we were not on a call I spent my time in the back of the ambulance getting familiar with the equipment.

My first job as a paramedic in Maryland

I got the kids back in school that is Jessica, and Regina. Adias was too young for kindergarten but was enrolled in pre-school, and yes, Erik and Jennifer were busy with jobs and college.  Jennifer found it to be a little harder than she thought moving her National Guard from state to stated but I was so glad that she moved with us.

The company I worked for had a family picnic for all its employees not much after I started which gave us something to do and a way to get to know some of my fellow employees a little better.  My kids had fun playing games like human wheel barrow and balloon chase. They even had a piñata, face painting and
karaoke. 

This was the first year I did a 5k run for Race for the cure Cancer.  In October my parents and my grandmother came down for a visit. We had our annual pumpkin carving contest with my grandma and parents carving also.  It was a sight to see my grandma with a big knife in her hand as she carved in the
features for her jack o lantern.  We gave them a tour of Baltimore by going to the Harbor and showing them the ships stationed there. We even toured a submarine which was a first for me.  I have a lot more respect for those men living in such tight quarters.

Back row: My dad, John, Erik, Jessica, Regina, Jimmy, Marie Front row: Adias, My mom, Darlene, Grandma Clara Ricci

Jessica, John, Darlene, Erik, Regina, Great Grandma

We resumed life as we knew it with Halloween, costumes and trick or treating on the harbor in one of the big ships.  Christmas rolled around and we experimented with making new kinds of Christmas cookies. It was so inspiring to watch Jessica and Regina while they mentored Adias with this project.  We were again alone, with really no family around but us, so I tried to keep it special. The ceilings were very tall
in this house so we got a huge tree for the kids to decorate.  We didn’t really know anyone here to Christmas carol to so this year we didn’t do it. In fact we lived in a cul de sac with a lot of different religions and cultures.

Meanwhile Kristina graduated college with her bachelors and so Jimmy and I flew in for her special day and for the party her boyfriend threw for her.   

Jimmy- Kristina- Marie

Christmas was just around the corner, and Kristina came to see us for the holiday. Also there was my father in law, Joanne, Jimmy’s sister and her daughter Melissa. I had all my kids for the holiday which made me a happy camper.  It felt like we were home again. We had a big Christmas dinner, watching 
It’s a Wonderful Life, and opening gifts Christmas morning.

Back row: Regina, Jennifer, Jessica, Kristina Front row: Erik, father in law Joe, Melissa, Joanne, Adias, Marie, Jimmy

This was the first time that I had a job that Jimmy could not get a hold of me right away. So I got the new experience of a cell phone.  We also for the first time got a computer.  I was never home on time with this job. It seems that the rule was if you got a call up to ten minutes before you were to get off, you would have to take the call. I think almost every day that happened to me and my 12 hour shifts were more like
15 hr shifts.  I was given a pager and it seemed like I was always called in on my days off also. I was pretty naïve about these things since I had never worked on an ambulance before. I didn’t know that the pager was calling everyone until one time when I called them back and they told me someone called them back already and was doing the overtime.  Wow so I didn’t have to come in when the pager went off.  Yes I was that naïve. We did GT calls and I had no idea what that meant but I really enjoyed working with the old people at the nursing homes with the feeling I was making a difference.  

The computer was a new toy at my house and after Jimmy got it going it seemed he would never get off of it.  Jimmy started to seem a little distant in time. Don’t get me wrong, he would go on my outings but I could tell his heart was not with us.  I was too busy to even try and figure it out. I was always working, and on my days off I was trying to make this state that we had moved to, home, the best I could for my kids.

Well the grandkids are calling me.  Have a great day and find a youngster to give a big hug to.