After work I find myself at a brewery, sitting with one of my nursey friends, talking about work issues, life and meaningless trivia. I am drinking organic wheat beer in the smaller sized glass (called "wimps") so that the beer doesn't get warm. My friend is drinking wine. The beer is good. Fresh. Cold. Just the way I like it.
A cascade of hospital employees pass by. One of them buys us a round! We order chicken wings---then later (after a half dozen beers) a lamb burger. My friend has chicken Alfredo. The food is good.
We are blowing off steam. Tension. We talk of the strength of RN's. Emotional strength. The ability to endure some dicey situations and then being able to carry on with the shift. I am always amazed by the sheer emotional strength of my colleagues whether they be ER nurses, ICU nurses or psychiatric nurses.
Time to sober up. R. and I take a walk along a road outside the brewery. We explore an upscale resort and drop in to their front lobby. A wine tasting is going on, but we decide that we've had enough booze. We are walking to get sober---having another snort or two defeats the purpose. Besides, we haven't been invited.
We continue on and find a large winery that has some activity going on in spite of the lateness of the hour. A tour group passes by us going to a barn which holds barrels of liquid gold. The tour group are all carrying wine glasses. Dressed elegantly. We are wearing jeans and our shoes are muddy from cutting across a vineyard; we tag along just for fun.
In the Napa Valley, all you need do is look like you belong there, and for the most part, you are treated like you do belong there.
We loiter behind the group, admiring the barrels of wine. Finally, we are noticed. A beefy gentleman walks up to us and asks us if we are with the tour group.
"Nope, we are just a couple of nurses out for a walk", I tell the man.
Trespassers, we are. The gentleman kindly explains some of the barrels of wine to me. Their age and variety. French oak barrels. His voice is kind, but his body language lets us know that we are not welcome there. We say thanks and tell him that we shall leave the property now. No need to call the cops. We are benign. Just drunkenly exploring. Not up to no good.
We leave. Wind around a little more--sober up---and head back to the brewery, our cars and our lives.
A cascade of hospital employees pass by. One of them buys us a round! We order chicken wings---then later (after a half dozen beers) a lamb burger. My friend has chicken Alfredo. The food is good.
We are blowing off steam. Tension. We talk of the strength of RN's. Emotional strength. The ability to endure some dicey situations and then being able to carry on with the shift. I am always amazed by the sheer emotional strength of my colleagues whether they be ER nurses, ICU nurses or psychiatric nurses.
Time to sober up. R. and I take a walk along a road outside the brewery. We explore an upscale resort and drop in to their front lobby. A wine tasting is going on, but we decide that we've had enough booze. We are walking to get sober---having another snort or two defeats the purpose. Besides, we haven't been invited.
We continue on and find a large winery that has some activity going on in spite of the lateness of the hour. A tour group passes by us going to a barn which holds barrels of liquid gold. The tour group are all carrying wine glasses. Dressed elegantly. We are wearing jeans and our shoes are muddy from cutting across a vineyard; we tag along just for fun.
In the Napa Valley, all you need do is look like you belong there, and for the most part, you are treated like you do belong there.
We loiter behind the group, admiring the barrels of wine. Finally, we are noticed. A beefy gentleman walks up to us and asks us if we are with the tour group.
"Nope, we are just a couple of nurses out for a walk", I tell the man.
Trespassers, we are. The gentleman kindly explains some of the barrels of wine to me. Their age and variety. French oak barrels. His voice is kind, but his body language lets us know that we are not welcome there. We say thanks and tell him that we shall leave the property now. No need to call the cops. We are benign. Just drunkenly exploring. Not up to no good.
We leave. Wind around a little more--sober up---and head back to the brewery, our cars and our lives.
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