Christina Annas began her talk by reminding us that she was once a “little sprout”.
This led to a delightful, insightful and humorous overview of her journey from Upstate New York to California to Massachusetts and then New Hampshire. At times the talk was linear, and other points if was a winding road that took her on detours that highlighted her interesting life, and delightful sense of humor.
Christina Annas
She covered stories about her family, her educational adventures, work experiences, volunteering, domestic and international travel, her love of animals and various hobbies.
She grew up about 1 ½ hours from NYC. She never developed a NYC accent, but she shared that when angry she can sound like she comes from Long Island. As a child, because she was so tall, many could forget that she was a child, thus as an adult, she likes to remember that the child in her can still be present and playful.
It quickly became apparent that family is very important to Christina.
She shared that at the age of 20 she packed her underwear and shoes to journey to California to be nearer her grandmother, her father’s mother. She knew her father wouldn’t “approve” of her talking this adventure, so she informed him of the plan about 24 hours prior to departure. She stayed in California until her grandmother died. She thoroughly enjoyed the time she spent with her grandmother. She then journeyed back to New York with friends. It took over 5 weeks to get back east…the first of many travel adventure she shared.
She shared stories about her father, mother and her boyfriend and his son. Since her father died about 4 years ago, she has been spending a lot of time with her mother traveling around the world. She cherishes the times they spend together.
She had many memories to share about her education path. She had a dream of becoming a veterinarian but that wasn’t meant to be. She told us that getting into vet school is harder than getting into med school. She attended seven colleges before completing her bachelor’s degree. While in school, she had a knack for understanding mathematics and tutored many of her fellow students. When she graduated, she knew that becoming a vet wouldn’t be a career path she could take, she became a mathematics teacher. She taught for 15 years. Her best teaching stories are from teaching middle school kid, who gave her a “run for her money”.
One memorable college she attended was on Long Island, Dowling College that was once a Vanderbilt Mansion. It had a huge ballroom and many hidden passageways. It was here that she learned how to row. So, as she journeyed from college to college along the Hudson River. She rowed her way to Plattsburgh.
Her teaching career came to an end due to the 2008 recession. This is when pursued her nursing degree. She worked as a nurse for 12 years full-time.
Nursing took her to Massachusetts. She spent most of her nursing career in the Operating Room (OR). She described the OR as a place where you get to “look under the hood”. She assumed by this point in her talk we would know she likes to talk. Talking and engaging with people was a skill that helped her in her nursing career. She used her ability to chat with patients as a way to keep patients calm on their way to the OR. The anesthesiology team quickly learned that she would just keep on talking no matter what. They would give the patients their sedation while she continued to chat with the patient. She knows that if a person isn’t anxious going into surgery, that that will “wake up” calmer. She had many humorous stories dealing with the surgical team, patients and their families.
She told us that one of her most memorable nursing experiences was at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She worked with children dealing with lymphoma and leukemias. It was a time for anxiety for parents. She felt she was very skilled at comforting children.
She came to DHMC and then APD as a traveler. She decided to stay here as she “retired” just before the start of Covid. A trying time to be alone, but she surrounded herself with chickens and turkeys and other critters. She still is surrounded by animals. She is comfortable around all sizes of animals from baby chicks to elephants.
Even though she is “retired”, she still says jobs seem to come to her. She recently worked for a high school student who had many disabilities. She worked as an aide and as her nurse. This student was featured in an article in the Valley News back in June. Christina was pictured with the student celebrating her graduation.
She told us stories about working as a relief cook on Pete Seeger ‘s boat, Clearwater, "America's Environmental Flagship," the “Hudson River Sloop” a floating classroom. She spent many hours sailing. It led to a trip to Greece. She worked for Anne Leibovitz babysitting her children at her property on the Hudson, Ferncliff Farm.
Volunteering is something she really enjoys doing. She is the only female mentor for Take Flight at Lebanon High School. The goal is to have the plane ready for flight in December. She has become “Rosie the Riveter” at Take Flight.
She helped at the CHaD superhero run several years ago. She was with a former boyfriend who went as Batman, and she went as Wonder Woman. The kids were so excited to have both Batman and Wonder Woman there. She reminded Batman that he “had to engage” with the kids.
She met the director of the OR at DHMC at this race.
She has cooked for food pantry meals.
She has fostered shelter animals.
As for hobbies, she like to swing dance, decorate cakes and loves vintage cars.
She loves the adventure of travel. She has been to 6 of the 7 continents. These are a few of the countries she has visited, Kenya, South Africa Vietnam, Greece, Tahiti, Cuba, Spain (for the recent eclipse of the sun), to name a few of her destinations. She is traveling a lot with her mother…this seems to bring her joy and wonderful memories.
Her love of animals persists, and she has a dream of owning a game reserve where she could take people on safaris. She happily shared a story about feeding elephants in Africa.
She is also committed to helping young women know they can do anything they dream of doing. This is one of the reasons the work at Take Flight is so important to her. She loves to mentor young women in the program.
If you missed her talk, ask her to share some more stories with you. She is a great storyteller!