My Retirement is official

I worked my last shift at Orem Community Hospital on Monday, 26 Jan 2009. I know, I said I was going to RETIRE the last of December only enough to begin collecting retirement pay, then work at the hospital once in a while to keep up the skills and make a little extra money. A girl can change her mind (GBG). Here are some things that helped me make the decision last Sat. to totally pull the plug:

Inspiration sometimes takes a little while to come forth. Take that last question – shall I keep a Monday morning shift at Orem Community Hospital, or just be done, and why am I so ambivalent about making this decision? After a good 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep last Friday night, as I began to continue the “balance my Microsoft Money” project for 2008, the thought came along that I had not retired before and I did not have a road map for that… But I have moved plenty, and packed up my household and my life and moved on. That is not a new phenomenon in my life. Catching up on my email at IHC last Saturday pointed out that they sure have a lot of procedural details & online in-service training to keep track of and that keep changing; and on top of that, the Neonatal Resuscitation Procedures class for me changed from February to October (my card expires in Feb). And all that just to get to work once in a while?? So I think that is the signal that I am done there. It is time to hone some new skills and rejuvinate some old ones, and welcome a new season of my life.

There was the feeling of closure last week on Tuesday evening when 11 of my co-workers met me at McGraff’s Fish House for a little retirement dinner.


Retirement supper at McGraff's Fish House


My good nursing and genealogy buddy Darlene Nelson figured I'd need a big pair of sunglasses for all my free time in the future. LOL!



Last Thursday, the first IHC retirement check showed up in my bank account, so I am assured that they know where I am and who my banker is. I did not sleep well Sunday night, thinking of all the things I might need to do at the hospital the next day, hoping I would take good care of my patients.

Our stake had a Women’s Conference last Saturday, and one of the speakers focused on the passages in Doctrine&Covenants Section 25, about revelations given to Emma Smith and how they relate to women in the church today in their role in the Restoration of the Gospel. You can read those for yourself, and see which ones might apply to you. At the BYU Burn’s Supper that Saturday night, I was reminded of the really good friends that I have in that group as well as at church, and although the camaraderie at OCH is excellent and unmatched because of all the situations in healthcare we have shared together, I do have good friends in other settings.

You’d never guess I was a list person, would ya?

Two of my retirement gifts were Willow Tree angels – Happiness and Good Health. I am fortunate indeed to have friends who would wish such a future for me. I only have a few of those figurines, so I did get one more - Tenderness, to remind me about the next season of my life.

I’ll let you now how it goes with this new focus. I may start traveling occasionally to see those grandkids I talk about. I’m thinking for sure that “Relly” Amelia and Lily need a visit (see Sue’s blog at http://www.suerichardson.blogspot.com and Becky’s at http://randomlyoddbits.blogspot.com )




Happiness – “FREE to sing, laugh, dance …. Create!”



Good Health – “An abundance of health and happiness”


Tenderness – “Treasuring a rare, quiet and tender moment of motherhood” (and grandmotherhood; maybe even remembering those ancestors).

Christmas morning 2008

26 Dec 2008

Dear Virginia, Is it true what they say about retirement?

Can you retire and celebrate Christmas on the same day?? YES! Yesterday was my last day to work at Orem Community Hospital, in labor and delivery, at least for a while. I may go back after the middle of January for an eight hour shift, once a week, and help triage walk-in patients.

My Christmas this year actually started the night before on Christmas Eve, when I left work and went to Don and Lora’s house to spend the night, to already be “on location” for the grandkids’ present opening the next morning. There was already a party in progress that evening with Lora’s parents and siblings and about a dozen little cousins. Just like at the party at Josh and Jenn Pilch’s house a couple of weeks ago, the little boys were playing lots of “chase” antics, this time chasing Nicholas. And a present of Cheyenne, the rocking horse, from one of the aunties prompted a lot of “it’s my turn!” urgent cries.

Later in the evening, when the crowd had left, we gathered around Lora’s beautifully decorated tree to watch the 6 car train that Lora’s folks had given them last year, and listened to it whistle and play Jingle Bells and a couple of other carols.

The first little kid up on Christmas morning was Alexander, along with his dad, checking out all the presents. The train could no linger move around the track, due to the pile of presents. Pretty soon, here came Lora and the other kids, one by one. When all were assembled, and after the morning prayer, the stockings were inspected, and then the paper began to fly all over the room!









Later, I drove to work by noon, assisted a new baby into the world, and that last “retirement days left” paper chain ring was torn down. Heather Marston was my nurse friend at Orem Community Hospital who wanted the paper chain so she could keep track of how many shifts I had left to work before retirement. We put up 17 rings, starting on 17 Nov. and Lindsay Judd torn down the last one on Christmas Day.






Went home after 6 hours (we all share the work on Christmas Day by spitting our 12 hour shifts) and enjoyed the goodies in my stocking.

I did not do very much decorating around the house this year, but all the grandkid bears were gathered around the little artificial tree. Very homey :-)

Let's see, that was Thursday. Then I got this call from Sue Saturday evening about how to tell if it is time to come to the U of U hospital for the birth of the Richardson Mystery Boy. They decided to wait until Sunday morning and then drove from Cokeville to SLC, But that is more her story. Check out her blog at suerichardson.blogspot.com.

A Lost Christmas present - a flashback story

Flashback story – ”A lost Christmas present”.

When my sister Jane and I were 4 and 6 years old our mother took us from Oshoto, Wyoming at the D ranch by train to visit our Grandmother Sneath (Lois Rebecca McGregor Sneath) and her mother, Great Grandmother, Old Gram (Mary Lois Bridges McGregor) in Cranbrook, British Columbia. I remember traveling through some tunnels (like in the Polar Express movie) and seeing lots of snow as we traveled across Montana in December. Seeing all that wrapping paper flying at Don and Lora’s house this year 2008, reminded me of that cold Christmas morning in Canada, after we had finished unwrapping all the presents. Old Gram, after inspecting everyone’s new gifts said something about a game she had purchased for us girls and it was no where to be found in anyone’s pile of new treasures. Grandmother Sneath, being the tidy person she was, had already taken all the wrapping paper to the basement to put into the coal furnace. So we hurried down the stairs and began to search through the piles of paper. Sure enough, there was the present, a board game called Uncle Wiggily.

The original board game from that Christmas is long gone, but as a fun game for kids today, a replacement set can still be purchased. You can read more about it by going to Google.

About the family members in the next two photos:



Grandmother Sneath (Lois Rebecca McGregor Sneath, married to the banker Charles A. Sneath) and three Cox girls: Jane is standing next to Grandmother and holding her hand, Elizabeth is sitting in front, and Lois Ann in the chair. It was a big year for squaw skirts and concho belts. How about those shoulder straps (suspenders?)for Liz to hold up her skirt? The photo was taken in front of the fire place in grandmother's house in Cranbrook, British Columbia



4 generation picture includes Jeanette Sneath Cox, the Gram of our generation, in the hat and gloves is Grandmother Sneath, Lois Ann is the little girl and on the right is Mary Lois Bridges McGregor, the Gram of her generation

My 65th birthday - notes from 19 December 2008

19 December 2008

I was 65 years old yesterday. What did I do to celebrate the day? Went to work, helped with a C/Section, which brought forth a cute little kid to be named Sebastion, attended to him and his mom all day, picked up another mom and baby to care for. All day long, different ones of my friends would tell me “Happy Birthday” and ask about my retirement plans. Those first grade paper rings dramatizing how many shifts I have left to work, are getting fewer and fewer – only 4 left now after yesterday’s shift.

Darlene Nelson, my best buddy at work, the employee recognition chairman, coordinated with our boss Rebecca Allen about a retirement party for me. Darlene and I decided we would wait until the end of January for an evening meal at McGraff’s Fish House. I had some choices per IHC Retirement policy, about what money they would pay, according to the years worked. I chose to receive $100 in my pay check instead of $150 for a retirement party at work. Instead, those who wish can join Darlene and I for dinner on January 20th and each pay their own way. I will use that $100 to pay for a subscription to Ancestry.com to help with my “Finding John McGregor 2009” project.

The first birthday greetings were from Jana and Carrie. Later in the morning, I got a text message from my dentist Les Brooks “Dr. Smiles”. Soon after, a phone call from my sister Elizabeth. Later in the day, a phone call from my son Don, and in the afternoon, Sue and Amelia and Lily called to sing Happy Birthday from cold Cokeville, WY.

Ordinarily, I don’t make a big fuss about my birthday, but this one seems momentous “65”, and remembering my 60th, I decided to advertise this time. When I turned 60, I worked that day too. I imagined that my boss at the time, Ann Eves, would have some list that would remind her when people had birthdays. But nobody noticed. I remember going to the snack bar and buying a big piece of carrot cake, then when I got back to the floor, mentioning it was my birthday. No big celebratory cake from administration – and none yesterday either – yesterday probably because of the entire belt tightening going on in the economy.

Oh and what did I do when I got home from work? Cooked a steak, and later had a piece of left over birthday cake from last Sat. family party – an Orange Chiffon cake – Gram’s and my long time favorite, and vanilla ice cream. Watched CSI and one of my new favorite TV shows – Eleventh Hour. And did not set any alarm to get up today. Probably not very exciting to anyone else, but I liked it just fine.

a small flood in my basement - from 17 Dec

17 Dec 2008


My daughter Becky had quite a saga yesterday..... arrived here 1130PM Monday night, got up early for Connor's 0630 appt at Primary Children’s’ Hospital in Salt Lake City for the MRI of the cyst on the front of his left calf (don't you call that his shin?), spent a great deal of the day there, got to leave about 2:30 PM, came back to American Fork to rescue Emma and Dani, who stayed with me. Connor took a while to wake up from his sedative - I think she said they used IV Nembutal, even when they got to my house, he was like a rubber man, walking like a drunk. They still did not get away from my house until 7PM. Got as far as Park City and Becky pulled over to sleep and let the kids watch movies, which is where she was when I called her to see about her progress about 10 PM. Sometime later, midnight maybe? she called me to say she had gotten as far as Coalville and found a motel to get some more sleep. But she was home at 7AM, and day care going on... Whey!

Dani and I had our own adventure yesterday (Tuesday) - a small flood in the basement! I had ignored and not replaced the wooden plywood cover over the sprinkler system gauges by the front steps when I cleaned up the front yard for the fall. When the snow began to melt off the roof yesterday afternoon, the downspout drain was missing its extension piece that would have guided the water to the roses and grass. Instead the water filled the concrete box where the sprinkler gauges sit. There is a 1" hole through the concrete wall from the box into the house that carries the electrical wire to the Sprinkler Master Controller swithches in the furnace room. Dani came hollering up the stairs that there was water running in the basement. And it surely was!! squirting right though that little hole like gang busters! After a few choice words (Mormon ones of course) I looked around for some McIver solution. There was an empty plastic grocery bag laying around, so I grabbed it and began to stuff it into the hole, plugging the dike. Dani and I moved the wet boxes and a few other things out of the room and swept what water we could into the basement drain. There was a bucket there already to catch the water before we got the squirting water stopped.


What to do next!? Well, go outside the house to see what needed to be done there.... yikes! the concrete box was full of water. Let's see - do I have some shop-vac or something to get that water out? No - only a bucket, so I bailed most of it out. Then I could see where that hole was through the basement wall that had carried that water into the house. The floor in the furnace room and a bit of the carpet got wet, but are dried out this morning. Too bad I did not have a camera crew - I bet we were comical - and wouldn't this be a great blog?

Thank goodness Dani was there to notice the running water, Later she went outside and helped clear snow off the sidewalk, not to mention helping me tend Emma all day. She was a good worker yesterday:-).. Good job, Dani!

a high school friend

My sister Jane just sent me an email link about a fellow I went to high school with at Ft. Stockton years ago, Edward Pfeister, who was president of our class. Have a look at where that West Texas boy is today...

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=6590086.

He always sends me a Christmas card and a card on Valentines Day (it is probably his secretary, but I don't care - that he still thinks to do that is a wonderful rememberance.)

He is the guy in the wonderful white hair.

It's Raining Leaves (from December)

13 December 2008


“The best fun I have had all fall” so claimed Lily as she helped (??) me rake up the 9 big bags of leaves in my back yard, just before the snow started to fall. Kids just have a different vision of what it means to rake leaves and what the finished product should look like.

Eventually, Amelia came out from the house and was persuaded to get into the leafy bed with her sister.