Saturday, April 28, 2012

A Year Already??!


As I get on Facebook (let’s not lie to ourselves, we all spend an inordinate amount of time there), I’m noticing (duh) that so many of my friends are graduating college this year.  And what I would like to know is where the time has gone.  I remember my awkward, geeky high school days (okay, so I haven’t actually outgrown those yet) where I wanted so badly to be “grown up,” and to be done with college, have my degree, and be making, what I perceived to be, lots of money.  Now I look back and realize how quickly time has passed and how much has changed.

Yes, I got my degree – still can’t believe it has been a year – and I have my “big girl” job, but I have found that being a so-called “grown up” isn’t necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.  You know those things our parents get in the mail that we used to just throw on the table for them to look at?  I call those bills, and now I pay them.  Boooo!  Oh, and remember how our moms and dads used to deal with insurance headaches, car repairs, and other such pleasantries?  Now I get to deal with them, which, for the record, isn’t more fun than most things.  However, here’s what else I’ve learned… 

1)   The best things in life come to those who work hard.  College wasn’t easy; nursing school kicked my butt on a daily basis, but now I get to take care of possibly the best group of patients there is, our “wounded warriors,” as we refer to them here at LRMC. 
2)   Being away from home does suck, but you know what else it does?  It teaches you not to take your family for granted; it makes you realize that your pesky little sister may not be all that pesky anymore, and that maybe, just maybe, you actually do like her.
3)   Your best friends will always be your best friends, no matter how many thousands of miles separate you.  You know that you can pick up the phone to call them, and even if you haven’t talked for months, you’ll pick up right where you left off without a single awkward pause.
4)   Pets remember their people’s voices, even when they haven’t seen them in seven months, so when you go home, don’t worry, your animal will remember you… although he or she might also shun you temporarily for your betrayal.
5)   You can accomplish anything you set your mind to.  Doubting that you’d ever be able to get into medical school was a sad assumption; you are smart enough and you actually did end up with the grades for it.  You also realized though, that in nursing you really get to leave a mark, you get to know your patients on a different level than anyone else.
6)   Oh, and you actually can cook… if you have patience (working on it), and persistence.

So in lieu of everyone graduating and preparing to go be “grown ups,” I just want to say that although parts of this past year have been rough, and there have been times where I wished I could do a Harry Pothead and apparate back home, I wouldn’t change it, and in another year, who knows what will happen, maybe I’ll be putting in my med school application… Ha ha ha!  Gotcha!  But seriously, I might be going through school withdrawals; Nurse Practitioner school is continuing to look progressively better… Who knows what tomorrow will bring…

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