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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

I am a little r

The end is here.  First year officially finished with last night's amazing clinical microbiology exam.  Whew!!!

Today, I have an amazing feeling of freedom.  Of no studying, no textbooks to be looked at, no notes to review, no assignments to finish, no nothing school-related to do.  What an amazing feeling.  (OK, my impending return to the office is hovering over my head, but that's another issue...)

I am so grateful for so much.  I am grateful that this year is over.  While I learned so incredibly much, it is a year I would never want to do again.  From here on in, there will still be classroom courses, but every single semester will include labs/clinical rotations.  Never again will the entire year just be classroom-based.  "Real" nursing starts in September.

Also, future years will never have so many 'firsts' and new experiences as this year had.  I have now gone through the main transition of deciding to change careers and actually follow through with the idea.  I now have an amazing group of friends in my classes, so I will never again face a classroom not knowing anyone.  I now know that even at my age and stage in life, I am able to still learn and achieve amazing academic results (if I dare say so myself!). 

And I simply know I am where I am meant to be.  I love what I learned this past year, and it is only going to get better and better, the more clinical experiences I have.

So even though at times it was stressful, overwhelming and frustrating to be back at school, overall, the year has simply flown by.  I am so happy it is over, and even more grateful to be doing what I am doing.

Now I have a free week to try to do as many items on my around the house "to do" list as I possibly can, and to spend as much time as possible with my 5 year old munchkin, before FT work awaits.  This afternoon, I will be in her classroom again, volunteering.  It is such a gift to me to be able to do that.

Oh, I almost forgot to explain the title.  Now that I've finished one year out of the four year program, I jokingly referred to myself as being 25% nurse.  My son explained to me that I am now a small "r", having finished a quarter of the studies.  Next year, with second year completed, I will be a capital letter "R", end of third year, I'll be an "Rn", and finally when school is truly done, I will truly be a full-fledged "RN".

So for now I am thrilled to be an "r".

Onwards and upwards -- always.

:-)

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