A nightshift-er I'm not

I just got finished with my first (and only, fingers crossed) week of nightshift.  Definitely not for me!  The first day was one of the tougher ones because I wasn't exactly sure how to prepare myself.  Do I stay up all night and then attempt to sleep all day?  What if I can't sleep during the day?  In the end, I stayed up late, got up early, and then took a nap.  It made for a very long night.  I did find out some very helpful information though.  If you force yourself to stay up all night to work (or do whatever), you will get the best sleep of your life that following day.  Really it was wonderful!
The last night though, it was probably the toughest.  It kind of happened in a stream of things that all resulted in no sleep.  The night before I had worked and pulled an all-nighter..not fun but manageable.  I came home prepared to sleep so well, and sleep so well I did.  That is until phone calls and pertinent situations woke me up by a little past noon.  LOOOONG night is all I can say.
But I did it.  It's done, and Wednesday I will be so happy when the alarm goes off at 5 AM for me to get up and get ready for work.  I do see the perks of night shift.  Better pay at a slower pace.  It also had other perks at home.  I was able to cook supper every night before work and eat at a decent time before I had to leave.  All the perks aside, night shift just isn't for me.  My body can't adjust, and I like getting up early and being awake and moving during the day.
I absolutely love my job though.  It was so tough for me to leave my old job as a tech at a small clinic.  The people there were my family, and they still are.  I cried for days after I left, and once I started my new job I cried again.  Things were so different, so new.  The people there weren't my family sent to guide me through life.  I honestly didn't know if I would make it.
Don't get me wrong.  I was always so grateful and excited to have a job from day one, but the atmosphere was just so different, so foreign to me.  I remember after one of my first days at my new job, we got off a little early so I decided to run by the office to visit.  They were all so excited for me; they wanted to know all about my new job. I collapsed into tears...just fell completely apart.  Several hugs and a Diet Dr. Pepper later I was feeling better.
I guess that's what family is for.  The people you can be your weakest, your rawest around, and you don't have to have any worries about judgement.  They accept you for you; through all the flaws, bad decisions, and tough days.  Family is always there.  Through blood ties or just the ties of friendship turned into family, family is one of the most important things in my life.
Josh and I are blessed.  We have so many families.  Blood families of course...his and mine.  But then God gave us a gift and allowed us to branch out.  Josh has found a true family through Kyle and his family.  He thinks of them all as his family, and for the most part I think they think of him the same way. I have a true family at the office.  I feel like I did a lot of growing up there.  I went through so much in those four years, my life was completely upside down at times, but they were a big part of the reason that I made it through.  We also have family in our friends.  We have been truly, truly blessed with the most awesome and amazing friends.  Sadly, a lot of them live in Mississippi, so we don't see them often but through the distance we know we have them.
This is a photo tribute to our friends...our family. (This is also what happens when you have been working nights.  You finally get the opportunity to be in your bed at nighttime, and then you can't sleep!)