I'm Retired.

I have always thought that retirement is something you do when you are old, grey, and your boobs are sagging to your knees.  Luckily for me, I got to retire while I still have all of my teeth and hair! That's right, as of July 6th, 2015, at the ripe old age of 31, I am officially retired as a Physician Assistant.  

Don't get me wrong! I will miss having to wake up at 6:10 am, drive through horrifying traffic, and exhaust myself on a semi-regular basis.  I will also miss having to request off from work to vacation with my family and I will DEFINITELY miss my outstanding 3% raise that I got once every four years.  But mostly, I will miss putting on these gorgeous blue scrubs and leaving my children only to see them for 1-2 hours in the entire day.

Ok, so obviously I won't miss any of that.  

There are many things that I will miss though.  Simply put, I'll miss seeing sick patients and making them feel better.  That is why I wanted to be a PA in the first place.  I wanted to be able to provide excellent service to patients...to spend time with them and make them feel special.  Like someone cared.  And to develop what I consider "Mad Skillz" by making painful and scary procedures less painful and less scary than they may be elsewhere.  I truly hope that through the years, I have accomplished this.  

Being a physician assistant has been an amazing journey for me, and one that I would NEVER take back.  I attended the University of Florida's PA program from 2006-2008 and met some incredible women (and men) who will remain my lifelong friends :)

My first job right out of school was in Interventional Radiology with this amazing crew!

I learned how to safely and skillfully perform a wide variety of procedures, from joint injections/aspriations, to lumbar punctures, dialysis catheter/PICC line/port placements, paracenteses, thoracenteses, liver, thyroid, and lymph node biopsies, chest tubes, and so much more.  I loved every second of it....in fact, I was kind of obsessed.

And then there were these guys.  To say that I loved my docs, nurses, techs, and best buddy Adam is to downplay how much affection I felt for all of them (and still feel!).  I seriously worked with the best of the best :)

I worked in Gainesville, FL at Vascular and Interventional Physicians for 2 years before leaving them to travel out west on a great adventure. Jordan and I wanted to see what else the US had to offer, and it turns out there are places in the world where 100% humidity, roaches, and mosquitoes don't exist!!  I may have cried every day for at least 3 months before leaving these crazy kids...but in the end, I was strong enough to leave my comfort zone and head into the unknown territory of SLC, Utah.

He's just sad I was leaving.

My first day of work was a little difficult, as depicted by this sad selfie.

But over time, I got to know these wonderful people and became more comfortable with my new environment.

Jordan and I also made some great friends out here....

and friendships that will also last a lifetime :)

THEN, we popped out babies that also became friends!!

2013/2015

And then MORE babies came! (This is Utah for crying out loud). I'm sure that they will all be friends too one day, once they get past the drooling-on-themselves and pushing-each-other-over stages :)

So all in all, I embrace all of my life choices and I am so happy to have had the education and opportunities that I was afforded :)  I have just realized over the last 3 years that work is not where my heart is. I drug it out and tried to resist it, but my heart is at home with my family.  My attitude towards work was suffering because I didn't want to be there, but was having a difficult time giving it up.  Thankfully, Rodan + Fields came into my life at just the right moment and although I have only been with the company for 4 months, I'm making the supplemental income that I needed to replace my PA income.  God may work in mysterious ways...but this situation seems pretty transparent - he was giving me the greatest gift anyone can be afforded. 

I will now be staying home with my kids full time and loving every minute of our splash pad, park, and bumming-around-the-house messy days. 

And if I want to take a spontaneous trip to Vegas with my hubby - guess who doesn't have to ask anyone's permission?  This girl.

I got to treat Jordan to dinner for once! ;)

Thank you to all of my co-workers over these last 7 years! I have enjoyed getting to know every single one of you and I look forward to maintaining our friendships outside of work.  To the docs and PAs that I've had the pleasure of working with and learning from, thank you for your patience, guidance, and instruction.  I will try to retain at least some of my medical knowledge in the event that I do want to be a PA again someday ;) And to my patients, thank you for showing me what it looks like to be gracious, thankful, strong, and brave.  It's because of you that I am able to truly realize what a precious gift life is.