Y’all! This post has been a work in progress for the past three days! I have so much going on to update you on and I have really tried hard to have better sleep habits. I do have insomnia a lot, but sometimes I use it to my advantage to work through the night. This has definitely impacted my mental health, so I’m trying to turn off working and read or watch tv if I can’t sleep. Read on for last week’s traipsing across NC and then today’s excitement of traveling to Nairobi! 

    When I last left you, I was enjoying the mountain views at my step-mother’s house on Sunday. After a satisfying breakfast, I loaded up my car and made my way back to Durham. I am so grateful that I enjoy a road trip. I always have snacks and beverages on my right, ready to caffeinate and provide sustenance with a side of crunchy veggies to keep me awake. 

I unpacked my weekend bag only to repack it for the week ahead. The plan was to leave for Oak Island (an island off the coast of NC) the next day after driving to Greensboro to spend time with my Aunt and Gram and then pick up my niece Sophie, to bring her to the island to join her dad (my twin,) his gf (Stephanie) and his son Deacon. I visited Gram in Greensboro before picking up Sophie. She was in the living room when I arrived with some of the other residents. Her eyes have been really painful to her the past year (her body doesn’t lubricate them as well so she has to have eye drops throughout the day). This means she keeps them closed a lot, which is difficult since she is basically deaf at this point. This is why our activity is typically spa time, so she can rest her  eyes while I pamper her with a foot soak and massage. We had a nice time visiting on the couch and I let her know about my upcoming trip to Kenya. She has been there twice and I still have her many carved wooden animals that she bought from there. The nieces and nephews have enjoyed playing with them, since some of them are a Noah’s ark theme with the ark included! She did a lot of traveling due to her active participation with Quaker politics and conferences.

I picked up Sophie from her mom and we hit the road! We had a long drive in the night and I had to stop to sleep because there was torrential downpouring. Sophie is the very best and set her phone alarm for me and we made it safely that night. After all my driving for Planned Parenthood the last couple weeks and my trip to the mountains, I was really struggling with that drive, but am so glad I have the experience to know my limits and let myself take a cat nap before continuing on. The rain had slowed down a bit for us to reach our destination. 

I only had Tuesday with them on Oak Island and I made the most of it! There was lots of flooding by our residence, which is a beautiful beach house owned by Stephanie’s friend. (I am grateful for many reasons that she is now part of our family and I tell her that often!!! Twin approved!) The flooding did not affect the beach and I went on a long swim before everyone woke up. I still can’t get used to warm ocean water after growing up in Maine with the rocky coast and cold water. But that is some high class problems. I made breakfast for everyone as they slowly woke up and we went back to the beach. We found a sand snake and I did my first ever live instagram post. My favorite job is being an Aunt to my littles and I love spending quality time with them.

I convinced everyone to get ice cream (because that’s how I vacation) after dinner. The local spot that Stephanie suggested was on a strip with several souvenir shops. I used to work in one in high school during one summer on Orr’s Island off the coast of Maine, so I love perusing. I ended up getting mostly candy, as one does, but really enjoyed seeing all the little trinkets.

We ended the night with card games (Cards Against Humanity, family edition) and a movie. Since I only had one day at the beach, I took a night walk after promising Jake and Stephanie that I would not go swimming again. I had scared them that afternoon swimming to the pier and back (twice), but I have grown to love swimming in my adulthood.

Everyone had gone to bed when I got back from my walk along the beach and I decided to start my drive to Charlotte (I had to work there the next day for PP). I was meeting some old coworkers for breakfast and thought I could catch up on some things beforehand. Fatigue got in the way of that plan, so I once again found a good spot to nap and barely made it to Charlotte on time.

Work these past three weeks have been super rewarding but also super challenging. The anxiety of my patient is palpable, fearing the loss of their healthcare. People are coming in droves to get IUDs and implants, stating they are afraid they might be raped and then be forced to carry the pregnancy. Others say they want their birth control because they don’t know if they will continue to be able to get it. My gender affirming transgender/non-binary patients are terrifed they will not be able to get their hormones. It is emotionally draining reassuring them that Planned Parenthood will keep our doors open as long as we legally can. Many patients thought that we would be shut down if we could no longer do abortions. It is misinformation that makes folx think the majority of our services are abortion care. (The irony is that it has increased since the reversal of Roe V. Wade). We take care of a broad spectrum of healthcare needs including family planning, STI testing and treatment, PREP and PEP therapy for HIV prevention, gender affirming hormone therapy, and many common primary care complaints. I am super proud to work here. It makes me feel like I have some power in fighting all that is bad in this world.

I spent the night in Charlotte since we worked late, which has been usual with the influx in patients and drove home to Durham on Thursday morning. I had Thursday through today to get all my ducks in a row for our vacation to Kenya!!! We are leaving at 7pm tonight (I am currently sitting on the airport floor). We fly into Heathrow for a short layover and then to Nairobi! We will get there Sunday afternoon. Nikki has meticulously planned our trip and it is a little more fancy than we normally do because we thought I would be meeting her from South Sudan. I told her I wanted some pampering after sleeping in a tent for so many months.

Our base is in Nairobi but we are taking a 4 day private safari tour and then hiking Mount Kenya which takes 4 days (we sleep in tents on the mountain!!) The other days in between we will putz around the capitol. I may even try to have dinner with some of my old coworkers. Ok, they are boarding us. Talk to yall later!