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It was a fine morning. The sun was bright and the air was cool. But despite knowing that this was a good start to the day, Carolyn Keller was still nervous.
She had just began her role as a psychiatrist at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in New Jersey and it was a far cry from the smaller hospital in rural New York that she had been at for the last ten years.
Moving had been a difficult process. Her father, Tiberius, and younger brother, Arvin, had moved from their home town of Montréal several years ago for Arvin to attend university and for Tiberius to climb the ladder of success in regards to his job as businessman and benefactor. It was the latter that made Carolyn aware of the job opening at Princeton-Plainsboro, which she applied for immediately. She couldn't give up the opportunity to be closer to her beloved family.
However, her actions didn't come without consequences. Her strained marriage was tested to its limits; Adam, her soon to be ex-husband, was an alcoholic and felt threatened when Carolyn acted on her own initiative to better her career for the benefit of herself and for her daughter- seven year old Maisie.
Luckily for Carolyn, she was occupied and didn't have the time to think about her familial issues. Her second morning on the job consisted smooth sailing: psychologically evaluating patients- both those in the psych department and those from other departments whose doctors had requested consults- in order to prescribe treatment. In the space of three hours, she'd already seen close to twenty patients. In the afternoon, she was to be introduced to clinic duty which was something she had always enjoyed.
She also met her colleagues, who were all (thankfully) kind and welcoming, and gelled well with a woman ten years her junior named Teresa McKinnon, who was originally from Arizona.
"The winters are certainly different here!" She had joked, making Carolyn wonder what it was like to spend the Christmas holidays in a warmer climate.
In light of her hectic morning, Carolyn was indescribably relieved when lunch came, famished for a large meal that would keep her going until she got home for dinner later in the evening. Her Auntie Elsie would be making her famous vegetable soup (Carolyn's favourite dish since she was eleven), which was the only reason she wanted the day to hurry up.
The cafeteria was busy and the queue was annoyingly long. Luckily for Carolyn, she'd decided to pack her own lunch. She found a relatively quiet spot in the corner and sat down with a huff before hungrily tucking in to her sandwich and fruit. It wasn't long before she became occupied with her own thoughts, blocking out the chaos of the cafeteria and thinking about her fresh start.
Carolyn hoped that Maisie was having a good day and that she was settling into her new school. The young girl seemed content so far, but there was always a worry that things might go south. She came home after her first day, rambling with such enthusiasm about her day and rhyming off all of her classmates' names, which made Carolyn indescribably happy.
