I Did It!

Yes that's right, I did it!

I FINISHED NURSING SCHOOL!!!!!!

I can not believe how crazy the last 2 years of my life have been. And to look back and realize that I did it! It was hard and crazy! I was driving 2.5 hours to school on Sunday's and 2.5 hours back on Wednesday's and working Thursday-Saturday nights in the emergency room! There was so many sleepless nights! So many I can't even count. The above schedule was on a good week and most weeks were much more chaotic and filled with clinicals or lab or other various school things I had to do.

The thing is… Even though I had to drive those 2.5 hours multiple times I wouldn't change it for the world. On either side of those 2.5 hours I had people that loved me. On one side was my amazing parents. They have been there through it all. They have patiently and lovingly got me through the last 2 years. They were there for countless break downs over school or life or just little things like my dogs being sick! My mom made sure to feed me and have whatever food I was hooked on that week stocked for me. They never knew if I was eating healthy or not so they always had ice cream just in case! We had family dinner most nights together and that is something I will miss. I will also miss our Tuesday night date with "NCIS." My parents have made this dream possible for me. After all it was my mom who told me that one night so long ago, "You would make a great nurse. You stayed really calm and that was awesome."

On the other side of the 2.5 hours was my loving boyfriend Jamie. We have gone through so much together the last 2 years with my schooling and his accident and just life in general. One thing that amazes me that we came out on the other side of nursing school just as close as ever. He has been so patient with me as I've had my fair share of melt downs over stupid things. We have grown together to make a pretty good team. I am thankful for him sticking by my side and reminding me constantly that I can do it!

During those 2.5 hour drives I got to talk to my best friend Randa! I would call her every time I was in the car. I knew where the dead zones were and when the phone would start to cut out. We talked about everything. She got used to my road rage and honking at cars! I got used to her being a mom and picking back up the conversation seconds later. It was so much fun and made the drive go by faster.
During the no cell phone zones I knew which radio stations worked when and when to start my cd player!

Nursing school made it hard to spend time with my family. Luckily for me my sisters were just a text or phone call away. I had fun talking to them and on occasion skyping with my nieces and nephews. During the first part of nursing school one sister lived just down the road from my parents along with both of my brothers. My other sister lived in Utah. It was fun going to Celissa's house right after school and just relaxing and eating a cookie or two! If I came home to my parents early enough on Sunday's all my siblings would be there (at least the ones that lived in town.) I flew to Utah multiple times and spent time with my sister and her family. I spent a birthday there over Christmas break and then a week there during the summer celebrating her oldest daughter's birthday. During my years I also got to meet up with my brother Ren for occasional breakfast's and sometimes he would stay at my parents for work stuff. If I stayed late on Wednesday's I would always get to see my other brother, Aaron. It was fun to get to play with his daughter one on one. During Jamie's accident my family were there for me. Elizabeth considered coming down from Utah and both my sisters made care packages! I love my siblings!!!!!!!!

One great thing about going to school and working at the same time is the nurses I work with were willing (most of the time) to help me with studying, homework, and even care plans. The nurses are awesome and spent time teaching me. I was able to have more hands on experience than the other students because each time I went to work I was learning more about becoming a nurse. Even though I wasn't actually doing all the nursing things I was still having fun. Sure I didn't really get to go out with my work friends very often but I did get spend every weekend with them.

I made new friends. Starting out on my journey I instantly became friends with Michelle, the smartest girl in class. We sat together for almost all 4 semesters (the last semester the teachers were constantly making us change seats, lame.) Then there was Jamie. I had worked with her before in the ER when I was just 18. We had a love/hate relationship back then and it carried forward. In second block we picked up Andi. Who became part of the study pack. Then there was Adalyn who joined in as well. Before I knew it I loved all the girls in my class. Wendy came and stayed with me during out of town clinicals and I stayed with the other girls one weekend just for fun. We all had our quirks, but man did I love 90 percent of all the people in my class. Lisa and Bernice were sassy and called me various spanish names that I still don't even know… something about a bun and a white girl. I will never forget how much fun everyone was and how much we all supported each other through the hardest 2 years!

What an amazing journey the last 2 years have been for me. At first I wasn't sure how it all was going to play out, but I did it. Each week was different than the week before and I was constantly looking at my planner. It was one of the craziest things I have ever done. When Jamie had his accident I really wasn't sure how I was going to keep doing all of the things and take care of him. Thankfully with the time off from work I was able to juggle it all. Looking back I know that God's hand was in all of these things. He knew that I could do it and knew I could handle even a little more. Never had I prayed more than I did in nursing school! I had a lot of guardian angels looking over me as I drove with little to no sleep. I am glad that it's over, but wouldn't change any of it!

Goodbye nursing school… Hello NCLEX!