Weekend.

Sometimes, when my friends or family hear that I have to work over the weekend, they would say, "Your schedule sucks!" Granted, at our unit, we have to work 2 weekends per month, a total of 2 Saturdays and 2 Sundays, which is an average for health care workers. Of course, scheduling doesn't always go the way we wanted. An example is my schedule for March, where I am scheduled an overtime on a Saturday, bringing a total of 3 Saturdays where I have to work. I drew the line there, I'm not doing overtime on a weekend. I'm still holding out hope that my manager can fix my crappy March schedule.

I do not mind working on the 2 weekends I'm required to quite frankly. It is a bummer that, sometimes, I cannot spend those time with my friends and family like "normal" people do, but I have accepted the sacrifices that come with this job. It sucks, but we get over it. I have come to term with the fact that, that is just a part of the job as a nurse. I work in health care, and the hospital opens 24/7. Wouldn't you want someone to work over the weekends and holidays if your loved ones are the ones in the hospital? Wouldn't you want us there, regardless of the time and date of the year, if it were your loved ones?

Another front runner question is, "You work all the time!" Um, excuse me? I work 3 days a week, with an occasional 4th day as an overtime when my unit really needs it. Just because I don't show up to an event over the weekend, doesn't mean I have been working the whole week PLUS weekend. Another benefit of 3 days/week schedule is that, on occasion, I can arrange my schedule to where I can have 4 days weekend or 5 days off for vacation without my boss rejecting it or taking away my actual vacation/sick days. That way, I can save my PTO's for longer vacation or even sell it. Heck, I can take off for a 5 days vacation once a month without my PTO's running out if i want to. How many of the regular 9-5'ers can do that?

I've come to a realization this week, that I actually don't mind weekend because I find that I get more rest from having 3 days off during the week than having a 3 day weekend. Why, you might ask?

Because I'm active in my church, so I'm always doing something church related at one point or another over the course of Friday to Sunday. Friday night is youth group, Saturday morning is church music practice, Sunday 11am is church, and that's just the routine without any additional church event we may have. So between church and other things with friends and/or family, I'm almost always on the run and weekends feel like they fly by too fast. And if I'm off over a weekend, that means I only get a day or two off during the week. Which means, I barely get time to myself.

Whereas, like this week, I was off on Sunday, worked Monday and Tuesday, was off Wednesday-Friday, then I'll come back Saturday (tomorrow). Those 3 days off mid-week haven been heaven. Even when I have errands, I can still relax without worrying I have to be somewhere at a certain time. I can go to bed as late as I please and sleep in the next morning. THAT, my friends, is my kind of weekend, one where I actually rested and enjoyed it.

Someone once told me that, as nurses, you make your own weekend. Our schedule is different than everyone else, so we make our own. We'd make our own weekend in the middle of the week, and we've come to love Memorial day as a holiday. That is the sacrifices we, health care workers, make in order to ensure your loved ones are taken care of. We are in the business of being a service to others, and we give up quite a lot of ourselves in order to do that.

So, the next time you hear me or your other health care friends who have to work over the weekend or holiday, the least you can do is to think for a moment before you utter something ignorant. While I'm honored that you'd want me or your friends to be with you on those special days, think about the sick people at the hospital who need us more, and be grateful that there are people like us, who sacrifice our time for them. You never know when it is your turn to need us to be there at the hospital to take care of you. Even on weekends on holidays.