Condon, Elyse O.

[elyse condon]

ELYSE OLIVIA CONDON. THE INFO. FULL NAME: elyse olivia condon AGE:  twenty-two HOMETOWN:  long beach, ca CAREER:: registered nurse EDUCATION:  california state university, bachelor of science THE YEAR OF THE NURSE: 2020. The year of the nurse. It’s been one hell of a year to be honest. COVID hit almost a year ago now and I feel like I haven’t even been able to catch a breath. Work work work, it’s all I do. I started out as just a regular ICU nurse, but with the rise of COVID 19 our hospital decided to dedicate two 24 bed units strictly to patients diagnosed with COVID. I was chosen to be on the two covid units. It was hard, it still is hard. I am a hermit. Majority of LA is closed and I just feel guilty if I even go around people. Except for Theo and Ollie. I take all my precautions with them. Taking my clothes off before I get in the house (my neighbors love it), my shoes are stationed out there as well. I wish people were taking this serious. I’m tired of having to FaceTime families as their loved one is dying. In the beginning, I would go hole and just cry. Drink all the wine and cry. No one understands and maybe that’s why I’m so negative about covid. And so hard on everyone and anyone that doesn’t do something I agree with. Mask up, get the damn vaccine, especially so I can get on with my life. PERSONAL ITEMS. THE FAMILY. Olivia was eighteen when she was pregnant with me. From all the stories I’ve ever been told she took off after seeing the pink lines on the take home pregnancy test. Darrel and Izzy tracked her down only to find she was two states over in Colorado trying to start a new life on a ranch. Olivia was shutting down and admitting she was not able/ready to bring a child into this world. She had a lot of live, or so she kept saying. My grandparents came up with an agreement. Olivia could stay in Colorado on the ranch if she gave her baby up to them. After having Olivia they struggled majorly to get pregnant again. Miscarriage after miscarriage. Although this was not what they envisioned for their eighteen year old daughter, they knew they could help her in some way. I was born out on the ranch in Colorado and soon after they came to pick me up. Darrel and Izzy were much older than most of my friend’s parents. I remember digging through a random old drawer and finding a picture of what appeared to me. But of course, it was Olivia. The truth came out after that. My mother was living on a ranch and didn’t want anything to do with me. It was hard for a teenager to hear all of this. It didn’t matter to me though that she was my ‘biological mom,’ the real parents I had were right here the whole time. They did the best job they could. In hindsight, I think there are some qualities I have because they just sort of let me do it. They spent eighteen years before me, raising an exact replica of me. Olivia put them through the ringer. I did at times too. But nothing like that. Hence why they were totally fine with me moving to LA, I’m a big girl. Oh and they are a bit naive, like they didn’t stop me from getting roommates on Craigslist!!! THE ROOMIES. My big teddy bear. The person who keeps me the most sane. This year I’ve been a big of a negative Nancy. It’s no secret. It’s been a hard year on me. I’ve had a hard time separating my job and my personal life. Theo has helped me the most. His optimism has held me together on my darkest days. We have the medical field to bond on. The year hasn’t been kind to us. He’s always there to listen to me. When I met the boys on craiglist (yes scary), Theo was the one who gave me the most hope that I wasn’t making the biggest mistake. It was the cute smile that really won me over. Two years now they’ve both stuck by my crazy side so I think that’s absolutely a great sign that I’m sort of a good roommate. And a good friend. I truly don’t know what I would do without their friendship. COVID put everyone’s life into perspective and though I’ve been crabby/psycho lately about the virus, I’m thankful Theo has been in my life. He’s the best and I don’t deserve him. My fellow negative Nancy. Though, I will say he wins on being negative. Ollie is great once you get to know him. I can see how he could be intimidating to others. He’s been through a lot and I respect it. I like to think that I balance the boys out a bit. With Theo, it’s a lot of talking and I love that about him. He’s great for that. You know what I love about Ollie though? The silence we have together, it’s the good type of silence. We can sit on the couch together and not say a word, just have the general understanding that we don’t need to talk. It’s great. I know he would do anything for me too. THE LAST MISTAKE. A moment of honesty from me. I haven’t always been the best with keeping girl friends. I can count with three fingers exactly the best friends I’ve had that are the same sex as me. I was one of the girls that other girls hated because I was close to a lot of guys. Except for Allie, she doesn’t count. She’s been my best friend since we were five. This is about Jess. She was my nursing school pal. She had the habit of getting into trouble. Going to the wrong parties and meeting absolute trash men. It got better with time, then she met Jacob. He was covered with tattoos and the local tattoo artist that rose to fame because he was good at what he did. The two of them got together. We hung out on several occasions. It was fun, I thought Jake was a great guy. College finished and I didn’t really keep up with Jess and Jake. Allie moved to LA with me and moved in with her longtime boyfriend, Tyler. Now this is why I call it a mistake. I’ve been such a snob about covid and doing the right thing. I did a patio dinner with Allie and Tyler, super safe and so funny. Allie’s margaritas are beyond dangerous. So what happens when Jake walks in? I’m super surprised. He looks great; I’ve always been turned on by the ink that covered his body. Turns out him and Tyler were good friends. After one two many margaritas, Jake offers to take me home. I should’ve said no. The tequila was flowing through me and the sexual tension between us was so hot. So yeah, I let him kiss me. Yeah I might have asked him to take me home to his. I’m not a saint by any means. I do feel a little guilty that I’m so hard on everyone and yet I did this.

kayla . millie . resident