Finally done!

I honestly can't believe that I'm done with nursing school.  I dreamed about this day for quite awhile (and frequently cursed along the way) but I'm not sure I REALLY thought it would get here.

It's been an amazing ride.  One that I might actually miss a little tiny bit.  I've had my friends and family put up with me, support me, make me laugh, and let me cry.  Without them I know I wouldn't have been able to do this on my own.  I owe them a big huge thank you! 

ADN Pinning December 2013

Pinning was amazing, I admit I'm a sap (as if you didn't know that already).  I didn't really flat out cry but I did get teary eyed plenty of times.  Sitting there listening to speeches and looking around me at my classmates all dressed up and in graduation gowns was very important to me.  I think ceremony is an important part of beginning and ending things.  I don't know that I'll ever feel that way again, filled with joy, pride, excitement and trepidation for the future. 

I know I've said this before but I'll say it again: at 18 I never would have picked nursing as a career, now I can't imagine being anything else.  I know that this is my calling and it will never just be a job but be part of who I am and what I am. 

I've been so lucky to find this fairly early in life.  I never thought I'd be that person.  It is proof that things do fall into place if you are ready for them when they are ready for you.  Thank you to everyone, but especially my husband.  He never gave up on me, he always believed in me (even when I didn't believe in myself), and he has been my rock, my best friend and so much more.  Thank you for letting me use you as a guinea pig and teach you all kinds of gross diseases so that I could learn them too.  Thank you for everything.  Gabe doesn't realize it yet but he deserves a big thank you from me too, for putting up with an exhausted mom, and one who was maybe a little short sometimes, and didn't always feel like playing or reading one more story.  He's an awesome kid and I know that he's proud of me too.  He talked about my graduation the entire week beforehand, and even though the ceremony part was boring (he's almost 7 after all) I know he will understand someday.  I love you both so much. 

10 days...

In just 10 days I will graduate.  I came across this blog post that I made in May of 2010 with 1094 days and now I'm down to just 10.  I actually cried when I read that one.  I remember it now, but I had forgotten about it.  I hoped I would get here, I worked hard to get here but a part of me didn't REALLY believe I would get here.

 So just remember when you start something even if it's a long way off and there are a lot of days between now and when you finish it will come.  Those days pass anyhow so you might as well be doing something with them!

Appropriate for today since Nelson Mandela just passed away is a quote from him too:
"It always seems impossible until it's done".   I can attest to that! It sure seemed impossible when I started this journey. 

Just one more exam between me and graduation!  I think I might actually be getting excited. 

Almost there!

Nothing like posting in August and then not again til December right?!  Geez!

This semester has been amazing and crazy! I've been lucky enough to do a rotation in a major regional burn center and have found that I love it there!  I'm just 16 days from graduation (EEK!) and I'm really hoping that a job opens up there and I can stay.  The nurses and patients have all been simply spectacular.  The things I have learned there can't be quantified.  I never thought I'd be the kind of person that would find a job that I really really really loved and if I won the lottery I'd do this job for free. 

Right now the schedule looks pretty awesome, this week is my last clinical day, then the HESI.  Next week is my last exam and then just a presentation after that.  Pinning is coming quick and I have a dress and presents for my friends all set! It is going to be amazing.  I simply can not believe how far we've all come since starting this program.  I feel like a nurse now, I feel like I can do this, I feel like this is what I'm meant to be here doing. 

I want to take my NCLEX ASAP after graduation so I can really start working too.  I'm hoping by the second week in January at the latest, it depends on quickly school gets my info in to the state. 

Here's to the next chapter and starting out as a brand new nurse and being the new kid on the block and terrified all over again.  I know I can do this!