A few years ago, I was offered a seasonal position with the Forest Service and the district ranger who called with the good news, boasted how the Forest Service is one of the highest rated places to work when it comes to job satisfaction and employee happiness.  It wasn’t a tough sell for me to accept the position.  I had already experienced the great comradery a couple year before when I headed up the construction of a school garden and the local Forest Service employees volunteered through a rainy day, with smiles on their faces, to complete construction and pollinator plantings.  That was the moment I decided to return to college and go after a job at the Forest Service.  Something in my gut told me this is the place for me.

In January I began my internship on the Pine Ridge Ranger District.  Four and a half years after I had that gut feeling, three years of college, a year and a half working for another USDA agency and waiting patiently for an opening, I was finally stepping into my dream job. 

In February, we received life altering news.  My husband, father of my kids, love of my life, had a 7.6 cm aneurism on his aorta just above his heart.  Because it was so large it stretched the top of his heart, causing the valve to no longer close and his heart to not work properly.  He would need heart valve replacement, aortic stem replacement, the aneurism removed, and his aorta grafted back together.  Even scarier was the warning from the surgeon, “The aneurism could burst at any moment and if it does you only have a 50% chance of surviving IF you can get to a hospital with a skilled heart surgeon within minutes.”  

We left the hospital stunned, drove to our very rural community, 100 miles from the nearest skilled heart surgeon and prayed for a month that it wouldn’t burst, as we trapesed back and forth for CT scans, heart catherization procedures, carotid artery studies and endless bloodwork to prepare for the 11 hour surgery, 9 of which his heart would be stopped, body cooled to 18 degrees Celsius, with a bypass machine pumping blood through his carotids to, hopefully, keep his brain functioning.  Each appointment, in the back of my mind was the worry that my days off were limited in this internship.  That I had worked so hard to get to this point and I was desperate to not give up the chance of a career with the Forest Service.  A job I absolutely love. A career that I may desperately need, benefits that I may desperately need should something go wrong in this death-defying surgery.

On the final day of March, my husband survived his surgery.  I spent the day in a waiting room alone, thanks to the Covid-19 visitor limitation, but thankful for the teleworking capabilities introduced to the agency because of the same virus.  Thankful to be busy.  Thankful to not use the coveted leave days.  Just as I finished uploading GIS points and data from the sharp-tailed grouse surveys I conducted the days before, I received a call from the emergency room that I will never forget, his heart restarted.  That was the moment I knew things would be okay.  That was the moment I was waiting for since news he would need this surgery.  His heart restarted.  His heart was pumping.  He lived.  

Things have not been easy.  We continue to have our ups and downs, but I am thankful every day. Thankful for the surgeons and nurses, thankful for family, and especially grateful to the Forest Service, my supervisor, district ranger and colleagues. I know Forest Service jobs are not easy.  There are stresses just as in any career, but there is a purpose that diminishes hardship.  When I am on the land, watching a sunrise during a bird survey or hiking through riparian planting trees and shrubs, I am overwhelmed.  Thankful for the opportunity.  Appreciative for flexibility.  Grateful that birds rise early, and bats rise late allowing me to work long field days or odd hours! Days are brightened by the same smiles from FS employees from so many years ago that told me this is the place for me.  I am truly thankful.

Agency: U.S Forest Service

Program: Resource Assistant Program (RAP)

Location: Nebraska National Forests and Grasslands