Well, I’ve done it – I’ve resigned from the Emergency Room.  It’s a strange thing to be officially unemployed again.  The last time I was in this position was when we moved to New Zealand, and back then it was only for about 6 weeks before I was working once more.

This time around, it’s looking to be more like 6 months.  Or longer.  Things will be pretty busy when we first arrive in Virginia: buying a house, buying a car, re-acclimating ourselves to life in the United States (I hear that reverse culture shock can be a headache), and Chris will be starting his new job.  With all of that, plus an in-law family reunion thrown in along with visits to my side of the family, it doesn’t make sense for me to jump into working outside the home right off the bat.

You know, it’s funny – when I first was hired into the ER some 4 years ago, I was sure that it would be a 1 year thing.  I’d work there, get some great experience, and then do something else.  However, after 6 weeks of working there, I was hooked.  I have loved working in the ER and it’ll be strange to not go in, even if I was only working once a week or every two weeks.

We’ll see what the future brings.  I’m open to working outside the ER.  Who knows – I may find that there’s another area of nursing that I enjoy just as much, if not more!  But for a long while now, being a nurse, more specifically, being an ER nurse, has been a large part of my identity.  I’ve had time to get used to the role of stay-at-home-mom thanks to working on a PRN basis, but this next phase will still take some adjustment.  I just hope that I won’t be too rusty when I do return to work down the road!