Sophie's Story

   Last year at this time I was sitting at my computer reviewing my year. 2018 was mostly quiet except for the last few months. Last year at this time I was a couple weeks past the first and hopefully last surgery I will ever have. I was on the mend, feeling better and looking forward to 2019. It had to be a good year. I had a good job, I had new work friends that had been an amazing support to me. 2019 was going to be a great year.    Well... it wasn't. Those of you who have read this column already know all the not so good things that have happened this year. I could rehash them along with the things that I wanted to do, but didn't get done.    I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to look at some good things that did happen this year.    I learned several things this year. One of them is that I am perfectly capable of being a good relief pharmacist. I'm not handicapped by my need for a stable workplace.(Although I prefer to be at a store rat...

   Five emails came in quick succession. This was followed by a text message and a Facebook Messenger alert. One by one I opened the messages.  The first one started out "Welcome to the Team." This was good news. It was official. I had been hired.   This was a job I had wanted a long time ago. When I last worked in Wisconsin, there was a pharmacy across the highway in the competitor grocery store. While the place that I worked in was nice, the upper level management was not. The store across the street was much more popular. It also seemed like their employees were treated better by upper level management.   I found a different job in Minnesota and the rest is history. When my little independent pharmacy was closed in January, I dropped a resume off and talked to the pharmacy manager. There were no openings, but she would keep me in mind.   Right before Thanksgiving, I got a message. There would be an opening soon, was I still interested? Yes! Absolute...

   C decided that we had to have a tree. I wanted to forgo the tree. It isn't a necessity and we need to be strict about our budget. C insisted. He told me that he was going to find a tree. I told him that there weren't going to be any trees at the price he wanted and that stock was likely to be picked over. Only scraggly trees would be left. He went out. I continued with the tasks for the day.   45 minutes later he called. He had a tree. It was a nice one and it was the price that he wanted to pay. It seemed that one of the local stores wanted to get rid of their stock and were selling trees for half off.   When he got home I helped him take the tree out of the trunk. It was a nice tree a little over five feet tall. It was perfect for us. Since it was so late, we decided to leave it outside and bring it in and decorate it after church.    On Sunday afternoon, C found our tree stand. We put the tree in the stand. It took some adjusting but we got it st...

   Someone shared a Facebook post of a picture of a small nativity scene with lights behind it. It said, "The first Christmas was pretty simple. It's okay if yours is too." I like that.    We are going to have a pretty simple Christmas this year. In fact there is a good chance we won't have a tree. We do have a lovely Advent Calendar made by Annjuli, a woman in Relief Society. It's a felt Christmas tree with 24 numbered pockets above and below the tree. In each pocket there is an ornament with Velcro on the back. every day you can stick an ornament on the tree. Each ornament has a meaning. I love picking out the ornament every morning reading about it's meaning and putting it on the tree. The only other decoration we have up is the statue of Santa worshiping the Christ child in the manager. That's it.   I do have five Christmas CDs in our CD player. They've been there for two weeks. Now that I'm not forced to listen to Christmas music for eight...

   If you live in the Twin Cities are and are looking for volunteer opportunities, check out Feed My Starving Children.   FMSC is a Christian based organization that packs meals that are nutritionally sound for shipment to countries where food is not plentiful. They pair up with humanitarian organizations to distribute the food. Food makes everything else possible. A child that has little access  to nutritious food cannot thrive. They can't go to school and they will not be able to make a difference in their countries of origin.  Their belief, correct in my opinion, is that this basic need must be met first. Then other things are possible.   We are lucky in the Twin Cities area to have three permanent FMSC packing sites. This is where the meals are put together and shipped. The food is packed by volunteers who sign up for packing sessions. My friend, Mari,took me to one recently.   The first thing you are given is a hairnet. You are going to be wo...

   The past few weeks I have been looking over what I did this summer. I was hoping that I would be able to find something good out of the experience of working at the ENT clinic. I didn't want to think that I had squandered three months of my life trying to build a novel pharmacy practice for someone who didn't want it and didn't bother to tell me this fact. I felt like I could and should have spent that time looking for a job with a company that wouldn't get sold to a big chain within months of my hire date. I dislike waste, especially wasted time. There might have been opportunities that I missed and better things I could have done.   I went over and over my time at the clinic. I did learn a few new skills. I met a couple of nice people. I helped a few people. I learned a little bit about essential oils. That's about it. Three months spent for nothing that was going to help me in the future. Three months completely and totally wasted. I probably deserved to mi...

   "Honey!" C called out, "Your name is on the list."    "What?!" I called back. "Why? I didn't volunteer."    "I don't know. You'll have to come with me," C said.     I was not happy. It had been a busy week and I had things to do. There was laundry to do and I still had not practiced our song for the Christmas Sacrament Meeting. However,my name was on this list so I had to go along.    The thing that I had to go along to was a volunteer activity. It was the Secret Christmas Holiday Shop. This is where children get to buy presents for their parents and siblings for Christmas. The children come with their parent(s). The first thing they do is make of list of those they want to buy presents for. Then they decide how much they are going to spend. The parents buy tickets equal to the amount of the budget. Then the child goes with a shopper into the shop. The tickets are used to pay for the items they choose. Then the pre...

   It's December again and that means that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is starting their annual Christmas campaign. There are the usual Christmas devotional,concerts and social gatherings. There is also Light The World.    Light The World is something The Church has been doing for several years now. The most recognizable item is the Giving Machine. The Giving Machine looks like a vending machine. The difference is that instead of purchasing something for your use, you can purchase something that will be donated to someone else. There are a variety of things from soccer balls, to school supplies, to food, livestock, clean water, medicine and other basic needs. The Giving Machines are placed in large cities in the United States, one in England and one in the Philippines. The church has partnered with several organizations to distribute the items purchased from the Giving Machine.   In the interest of fairness, I have never seen a real Givin...