The Work That We Do
Kin Keeping
The work you don’t know you’re already doing
What is the work that we do? Do you answer the call?
The other night I was in the 24 our Kaiser Pharmacy. It was a small room next to the larger pharmacy which had been closed for the night (it was 11:50pm). No one was there and I had been sent from the advice nurse to pick up medication for my one year old son and despite the prescription being called in, spending an hour on the phone with an advice nurse, and giving them 30 minutes it still was not ready
I wanted to say something but after 6 hours of crying and vomiting I gave in and let it go. I looked around the small room and sat down looking at the other side of the pharmacy that at any other time would have been bustling with people. I noticed all the restocked shelves, and all the things that I wished I could pick-up while I was there (band aids, cough drops, children’s Tylenol, thermometer, arch support things for shoes i’d been meaning to try). I thought about the things my family would need in the next two weeks, and the groceries that weren't bought, and the laundry detergent...did we need some? And on and on and on.
And that's the work that we do isn't it? Holding babies and loved ones when they are sick, sitting in vomit for hours if it means holding your dearest ones are brought some relief, calling the nurse and having a list of symptoms and temperatures, being an advocate for your family, doing the leg work of finding a 24 hour pharmacy, setting an alarm to get there right when the medication has been called in, and in general not losing your shit too much when all you want to do is scream.
The work that we do is all of those things and more. It's the work that no one else sees but you do anyway because it's got to get done. You may not know how or why. It's just a fact. I'm on a quest to understand the what and why behind the work that we do. I believe it can be a bridge to build community instead of separateness. I believe in the power of the work to bring us closer together to different and like minded people. There are things that we are all willing to do for others that we aren't willing to do for our ourselves....and there may be its true power...an ability to motivate to do things that we never otherwise would to help someone else unselfishly....but can't there be a better way to do it? A more organized protocol to GSD? And can't it be joyous? Maybe not all the time but at least some of the time?
Let's engage in conversation about what life is really like and make tools to advance the work and our lives to be fulfilled but not frantic. Let's ask the big questions and hear what each other has to say. Most importantly let's ignite a conversation around the work that we do and use it as a vehicle to connect in big and small ways. Let's face challenges head on and still find joy in the little things.