Welcome to 2010

It is now 4 days into the year 2010. A new year; a new decade. So much has changed for me over the last decade. In the year 2000, my name was Rebecca Ann Morana and I was married to Eric and living in Greenville, NC. I was 25 years old and working as a CCU nurse at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. In 2001, I became a traveling nurse and moved to New Hampshire with Eric. I worked in the CCU at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and lived in a very cool, old, large house in Canaan, NH. While living in NH, the world also changed. Not only did my little sister get married on Sept. 15, 2001, but the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center were terrorized on Sept. 11, 2001. That is a day that my generation will never forget.

After my 3 months in NH, we got home-sick for NC. I took a travel assignment in Raleigh at WakeMed doing critical care transport nursing with Wake Mobile. Shortly after buying a home in Clayton, Eric and I separated and I moved to Garner. During the next year, I remained full-time at Wake Mobile after my travel assignment was over. I also became an EMT and worked part-time at Nash General Hospital in the ER, Garner EMS at the Walnut Creek concerts, and also volunteered at Cary EMS. I was dating someone else, but became friends with Andy Wright, a paramedic who worked full-time at Garner EMS and part-time at Cary EMS, Wake County EMS, and Wake Mobile. After breaking up with my boyfriend somewhere around January 2003 and moving into an apartment in Garner, (my first apartment totally by myself), Andy began asking me to hang out with him. At first, I didn’t take him up on the offer for several months. I was taking a break from dating and trying to figure out exactly who I was and what I wanted. It was a very emotional time for me. I was very lonely and in NC by myself without family. I adopted a 1 year old lab/pit bull mix named Missy from the Wake County SPCA for a companion. She quickly became my baby.

I had been talking by phone, texting, and IM’ing Andy during this time. One day in Early April 2003, he told me that he and his friend Bailey were talking about moving to California. Although I had not wanted a relationship, this really upset me because he had become a really great friend to me. That is the moment that I realized I wanted to go on a date with him. I finally said “yes” when he asked me out, and on April 13, 2003, we went on our first date. We went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Fuquay-Varina. We talked all night and I felt so comfortable with him. At last, the “nice guy” that I had been friends with became my boy-friend. Once we had dated for a couple of months, I realized that we were getting “serious” and decided to finally go ahead and file for a divorce from Eric. After about 3 months of dating, Andy’s lease was up on the house that he, Bailey, and Brian were renting. Brian and Bailey were planning to move away, so Andy was looking for a place to live. I had 2 months left on my lease at Heather Park. I had started to look for a new place because I hated apartment life. Since Andy grew up in Raleigh, he was trying to help me find a house I could afford to rent. Any place I could find was in a shady area and he didn’t want me to live in an unsafe area. This is when Andy suggested (or was it me?) that we move in together “because it make financial sense.” At least, that’s what he told everyone. I told everyone that I was moving in with my boyfriend.

It was in July 2003 that we moved into a house in Garner’s EMS district, but it had a Raleigh mailing address. 108 Windgate Ct. We lived there for 9 months. While we were there, our relationship grew strong. I was still working at Wake Mobile doing ground transport, but I was very interested in flying on a medical helicopter. Duke Lifeflight was offering a ride along to EMT’s in Wake County, so I signed up. Once arriving at Duke, a flight nurse name Damian recognized me from Wake Mobile and started trying to recruit me. On my fly along day, I flew 2 calls; a post V-fib arrest and a pediatric trauma. I fell in love with flying immediately. I applied at Lifeflight and got an interview shortly after. The interview went great and they offered me ground positions with the promise of advancing to flight when it was my turn. Unfortunately, the only spots they offered were in Lumberton and Alamance and I was just not willing to drive that far or move to those areas. So instead, I stayed at Wake Mobile and applied to Airlink in Wilmington, NC. This is a beach town that Andy and I both loved to visit. I interviewed and got an offer which included flying immediately after my orientation. Andy interviewed with EMS shortly after and we both accepted positions. We bought our first house at 4705 Split Rail Drive at the end of April and started work the first week of May 2004. This is how we came to live in Wilmington, NC.