Luke 1:79

...to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.


Did I mention that my friend of Missouri appendectomy fame is a little fireball?  She had her appendectomy Thursday AM, and we returned to Bismarck the following Saturday.  She allowed herself two, count 'em, two whole days off from work; therefore she was back to work on Wednesday.  She proposed we go out to lunch on Thursday.  Sounded like a great idea to me! 
We could reminisce about Missouri and maybe plan our next motorcycle ride.  Oh yes, she has a motorcycle!

Anyway, I picked her up and we were off to The Pizza Ranch.  Then she says, "What is your health background as a social worker?"  I stated I had more of a health background as a lapsed EMT than as a social worker.  She informed me she had heard that a hospice organization in Williston was in need of a social worker with a Masters degree and wouldn't that be a fun summer adventure for me since I had the summer off as an Instructional Aide?

Four years ago was the last time I was in Williston.  I was pursuing my hobby of finding geocaches.  A geocache is a container that has been hidden, without being buried.  Each container has a website with its GPS coordinates and a description of the container, as well as a record of who placed the geocache and who has found it.  Also, there is a logbook in each geocache for recording your name and the date of your find.  If you wish, you can leave a little memento and take a little memento.  Then you put the geocache back where you found it.  Geocaching is a blast!  Different challenges come up for geocaching.  The one that brought me to Williston was a challenge from North Dakota State Parks.  There are twelve parks and each one had a hidden geocache within its vicinity.  Finding the geocache is a challenge in itself, but the first five people to find the twelve State Park geocaches would win two nights of free camping in the State Park of their choice. So, I had found the other eleven geocaches and the one in Williston was the last one to find.

I had found #11 in Bottineau, in the afternoon, and figured, well I can go south and go home or I can go west and then south to find that last geocache and then east to home.  So, greedy to be one of the first five to find all twelve, thus I did.  It was nighttime when I reached the Lewis and Clark State Park in Williston.  FYI, there are no outdoor lights in a State Park.  In spite of the fact I could not see my hand in front of my face, I gamely took by GPS (lighted) and soon found myself scrambling up a steep hill, through thorns and bushes.  In the dark.  Even I realized the absurdity of possibly tumbling head over hills down a steep, rocky hill all alone.  In the dark dark dark.  Sense finally dawned and I decided to return to my car and try to find this last cache in the morning.  Another thing that motivated me to abandon the search was I had left my headlights on, so I could find the car!  The thought of dilly dallying too long and returning to a flat battery did not appeal.

I had not been in my car long when there was a rapping at my driver side window.  In the dark.  Turns out it was the Park Ranger.  He really wondered what the heck I was doing there.  In the dark.  I explained I was geocaching and he wished me well.  I started to get cold and thought I would try my luck finding a hotel room.  Silly girl.  I knew better with the oil boom craziness going on, but hope springs eternal.  I was dead beat tired, and found myself going the wrong way on a one way road near Tioga (I thought it was a two way in my numbed state) and nearly got smeared by a huge oil tanker.  I realized I needed to get off the road.  I felt like I was in Hell with the various flaming oil wells in the night and the menacing trucks owning the highways.  I pulled up near an oil well, and caught a few winks.

A few winks was all I got because I was worried the oil well people would come and shoo me off.  Around 2:00 AM, I decided to return to the State Park and sleep off the rest of the night in peace.  In the morning I got my GPS and discovered two things.  First, there was a perfectly civilized path wending about the hill; no need go bushwacking straight up the mini-mountain!!!  Two, the geocache was not at the exact coordinates.  A bright little something caught my eye, off in the distance from where the cache was supposed to be, a good 10 - 15 feet off, and there it was.  I was one happy geocacher!

I called my boss to say I wouldn't be in (and yes I told her why!)  Then I treated myself to breakfast on the way home and spent the rest of the day worn out.

So that was my most recent memory of Williston, going through my head when my fireball friend suggested a summer escapade.  Torn up, truck congested, dusty roads, greed gone wild, and flames in the night.  With no place to lay your weary head.  I said, "Sure!  Sounds interesting!"

I called the phone number she gave me.  The lady perked right up when I said I had a Masters in Social Work and had done an internship at St. Alexius Hospice.  The following Tuesday (two days ago) found me tootling to Williston for a 1:00 PM interview.  I was ready for the wild, wild West.  The trip there was beautiful, with rolling hills alternating with valley vistas.  I went through Minot, as had been suggested, and the traffic was not bad.  I have a feeling the really crazy traffic goes through the alternate Watford City route.  I never at any time felt like I would be squashed like a bug by a big bad truck.  It helped that I was driving my sturdy, dinged up, I feel brave, '99 Toyota Sienna van.  Last time I was driving my itty bitty, please don't hurt me, purple Porsche Boxster convertible.

I have a habit of cutting it close time wise.  My first mistake was thinking Williston was in Mountain time, not Central time.  I lost an hour wiggle room there.  I rebounded from that assumption and then ran into road construction and detours the closer I got to my destination.  The kind people at the organization guided me to their office via cellphone.  They were completely understanding when I arrived at 1:27 PM.  Whew!

We proceeded with the interview.   I proposed I would need a place to stay, my mileage paid and I could work Mon - Wed or Tues - Thurs.  I said I'd like to help them, if I could.  They were oh so happy I am "Masters prepared."  I was all ready to excite them with my internship at St. Alexius.  I was taken totally by surprised when they became enthused about the year I worked for Visiting Angels as a homecare provider.  It turns out, that was another one of the requirements for the position, since they work with a vulnerable population.  Lord, You are full of surprises!

The interview was soon over.  They gave me a website address to fill out the online application and do an assessment.  They said they would get back to me and sent me on my merry way.  Lovely, lovely ladies.

The drive home was as beautiful as the ride out, minus the anxiety of the interview.  God is very good to me and mine and I pray His will be done!  Amen.