Tonight as I was trying to get ready to go to work there was a knock at the door. It was a jogger. She was nervous and apologized for the intrusion, but was scared to death because she felt like a man in a car was slowing down and stocking her. After talking with her for a little bit she left right as I was supposed to be leaving. I quickly got ready went to the car and got the car seats out when my car door slammed on my head causing a headache, dizziness and a bump on my head. Not having time to get medicine I started to drive when it started sprinkling (which it hardly does in July in Los Angeles) and as I turned my windshield wipers one my wiper blades on the driver's side flew off of my car. At that point I took a deep breath to calm myself down as to not irritate my headache anymore when from the side of the road a car decided to start driving pulling out and heading right into me as I swerved to the other side of the road. At that point I decided it was appropriate to use my horn so he wouldn't hit me and I wouldn't have a head on collision. It was one of those near misses that left you shaking at the end.
You see working at night has a unique commute and circumstances that many people don't necessarily relate to. I was explaining to someone that a horrific accident happened right in front of me on the way to work(finding later there were deaths due to a drunk driver) and the response was "why were they drunk so early in the morning". Well it was at night because that is when I work. I generally put the kids to bed and then head to work completely envious of everyone who actually get to sleep in bed in the dark with their significant other while I am consuming large amounts of caffeine judging how bad or good the night will be based on the size of the moon. Full moon you had better watch out! All those mommy blog posts about "having a great morning routine" and "get up an hour before your kids to start the day right" and especially "get at least 8 hours of sleep at the same time each night" makes me want to throw things at the computer as I briefly ponder about if it is ok to have a beer at 8 am even though it is the end of my day and I am about ready to go to bed after a rough shift.
One of the biggest differences from day shift to night shift (as I have worked both and taken sick calls for both) is that generally illness and car trouble tend to be the absent related day shift issues where other things have made me late for night duty. One time my mother was at our house I was walking out to go to work with her and a rat ran across the path. I turned around in fear to run and accidentally punched her in the nose. Another time I was out getting food before work and I was looking at the pretty Christmas lights and crashed into a parked car that had a bumper sticker that read "You touch, you die". There was the time I was on the freeway and a helicopter landed in front of me and took the patient to my work on my unit. I helped admit the patient and recognized the family from the side of the road. I should have just gotten into the helicopter and hitched a ride. I have called in sick because in the middle of the day as I was trying to sleep two of my neighbors pit bulls broke into our house through the dog door, attacked my dogs and woke me up on my bed and I could not sleep after that for the life of me. I have had full on conversations with people that I don't remember in the middle of the day while I am sleeping to which I think "they probably think I am on drugs" and have to call them back because I have no idea what I said. At the end of the day however I am a night shifter at heart and love what I do as long as I can get there on time and intact!
