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Sunday, January 27, 2013

"I'm So Excited"

Excitement is a strange thing. A sense of anticipation. A weird, funny feeling. A flutter in my stomach.

By definition, excitement is a noun, meaning:
  1. A feeling of great enthusiasm and eagerness.
  2. Something that arouses such a feeling; an exciting incident.
Synonyms
excitation - agitation - fluster - thrill

And in my life, being "excited" means being cute. At least, to my husband.

"You're cute," Alex says to me lovingly, not patronizingly, kissing me on the forehead as we lay in bed, past his bedtime on a school night.

"Why?" I ask, knowing the answer more or less.

"Because you just reached a goal, attained your dream job that you set out for several years ago, and instead of being happy, you just say 'I feel funny.'"

So yeah, on Thursday I got offered a job. My dream job, in fact. Back in October I applied for the part-time speech-language pathology position at the Portland VA with the Polytrauma team. I interviewed for the job - along with some 20 other candidates - in mid-December, and just this week HR called and extended the offer. It's been long enough that I assumed I wasn't selected. Although I should know better - the VA HR works at a snail's pace. It's my "dream job" because the population served includes recently returning veterans with injuries to more than one organ system, "resulting in physical, cognitive, psychological, or psychosocial impairments and functional disability," according the the VA Polytrauma System of Care website. This typically means I'd be seeing patients with mTBI, for cognitive rehabilitation, but I'd also get to assess language/speech/voice/swallowing on occasion, depending on the locus of injury. Oh yeah, and it's part-time.

I accepted the position and am now initiating the long on-boarding process with HR, including a background check, fingerprinting, a full physical examination, etc (all of which I have already completed twice in the past two years, for the record). But now I also have to decide what to do about working on-call at Legacy. I know for certain that I want to continue doing the weekend rotations, but the Friday outpatient days might be too much. And I told Beyond the Clinic that I wouldn't be pursuing any further opportunities. I'm in the rare, fortunate position of having too many jobs to choose from.

I might be a little excited about this accomplishment, if I let myself. But it does make me feel funny.

P.S. The title is a shout-out to Saved by the Bell - "I'm so excited! I'm so, so ... scared!" Oh Jessie Spano, you were sort of a spaz. And I can totally relate.


3 comments:

  1. CONGRATS!!
    Okay now that you guys are all grown up and have this kid thing figured out, AND have your dream jobs... its mine and Brian's turn... here's hoping he finds something he likes, and something part-time. ;)

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  2. Congratulations, Jo!! I hope that once you have some time to sit with the idea you're able to take the pride in your accomplishment that it deserves!

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  3. Wahoo! Babe that's awesome!! So pumped for you and your family!!! :)))

    ReplyDelete

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