Hawaii- Where the heck do I start?!

I am thinking the beginning is a pretty good place to start. I already explained Hilo and a little bit about the hospital in an earlier post. I literally don’t know where to start- my amazing friends, my gym life, my explorations, my new found love?! Or should I talk about the amazing Coqui frogs that make beautiful music at night (I loved them, but everyone else seems to hate them). Or how about the Volcano eruption, earthquakes or hurricanes I survived while out there?

Maybe I’ll start at the end and work my way back? I don’t know. All I know is that I cried like a baby in line at the airport when I left, and then again on the plane when it took off, and AGAIN when I landed in California. It was like someone had literally took all my new found happiness and shoved it down my throat and then tried to pull it out again. Ewww, that was actually kind of gruesome, but you get the idea. I was hurting pretty bad when I left. When I actually explain all the things that happened to me out there- you’ll understand why.

While in Hilo, I made some amazing friends! My roomie, Brooke is an amazing human being. She is a traveling Clinical Lab Scientist (I think is her official title, is that right, Brooke?). Either way- she works in the lab. She is a blood bank specialist and is wicked smaht (Insert Boston accent). She helps me see why the lab (annoying, but necessarily) always sends back specimens and why it’s so important for specimens to be labeled properly, and helped me understand how nursing and lab could work more collaboratively. Not only is she professional, but she is like a big sister I never had! We did almost everything together- hiking, beaching, drinking, driving, exploring, dancing…you name it! We stayed up all night and watched Netflix and ate junk food, and talked about dating. We are meeting up soon in VEGAS, BABY! I can’t wait!!!!

I met so many amazing people! People at work, people at the gym, people at local markets, at the beach. You name it, there were people everywhere introducing themselves to me. Many of these people became life-long friends (or so I hope they remain that way).

My new-found friend Alisha was a co-worker/fellow travel nurse who also became one of my best friends. She is hysterical and always makes me laugh. We shared all kinds of adventures. She is also recently divorced so we had that bond in which we discussed many life changes and shared many laughs and tears over our own journeys. Alisha is taking an assignment in Napa, CA so she will be close enough for me to visit her!!