Two days in a row in considered a routine, right? Two days last week I took Digby to the off-leash dog park that is in from of the National History Museum. That’s where I was able to strike up a conversation with two women, and the next day I saw the same women. We ended up exchanging numbers and made plans for the following weekend to have dinner with our husbands.  Dinner was delicious and Don and I really enjoyed getting to spend some time with anyone other than each other! Living in a studio has really left little room for alone time, other than the bathroom. By bathroom I…

“Shut the front door” it read as I was walking out, the sign drew me in. As I looked closer I began to read that it is illegal to leave the doors and windows open in a shop if the air conditioning is on. The fines start at $200 for the first infraction, and go to $400 for each additional violation. I do not understand anything here. Due to the NYC heat law I have to leave my windows wide open, so all the heat is pouring out into the street, but if it is air condition, I am breaking the law. Makes sense doesn’t it?   Something else that is bizarre,…

I am starting to think that a NYC Starbucks is where people go to drop the facade of having any manners at all. The gentleman behind me in taking up two tables and two chairs. He is by himself, with note pads, a small laptop, bags, and clothing. He has his bag and coat on one chair, note books on one table, and he is sitting with the laptop at the other table. Yesterday the woman in line in front of me was very rude to the baristas. There were 3 customers in front on this woman yet she felt the need to wave her money around. “Can I get…

“Excuse me, do you have some spare change so I could get some Starbucks too” the vagrant asked  “No, I’m sorry I don’t carry cash” I replied   “Are you gonna finish the coffee your drinking” the vagrant asked  “Um… no, I guess not” I said. I sipped one last sip and handed him the last bit of my Venti coffee   My encounter in Times Square was typical, I guess, of any encounter with a NYC vagrant. I was on FaceTime when the interaction occurred. You gave him your coffee, Whitney exclaimed! I said “You got to really want some coffee to want to drink a cold, half drank coffee”. My need for…

I am currently sitting at a coffee shop at W 81st and Broadway reflecting on this adventure. Donald is at his hospital orientation. As we feared my background check did not clear in time, so I will be a lady of leisure until March 19th. Most would welcome this break in work, but for me it’s going to be a challenge.  I got hired for my first job at 15 years old, and have been working since then. I love nursing, but God must have known that my heart needed a break. Everything happens for a reason. Nursing is exhausting, especially when the resources needed to provide excellent patient care…

***DISCLAIMER: The following has been lightly edited for clarity by Don Johnson. During the editing process he got fed up and stopped abruptly.*** It’s been adventure already and it’s only the first day in New York City. There have been a lot of lessons learned and hiccups thus far. I guess in order to explain I need to start from the beginning. It all started two weeks ago when we got a call from our Nurse recruiter. She had the perfect position open for us in NYC.  We had traveled to NYC once before and immediately fell in love with the public transportation and the millions of people. My husband…

January 10, 2018: Day one of our Southern California Adventure. This original post was started by Don, but stolen and heavily edited by one Sage Marie This was a quite a day for the Johnsons. In fact, you might say that we rolled two full days into one day. Fun, but exhausting. That morning we woke up around 0330. This was after working three 12 hours days in a row, exhausted was an understatement. Sage took her time fussing at me and getting agitated at everything I was doing that morning. She tends to show her nervousness at flying that way. Finally packed up we were on our way to…