A huge homemade cinnamon roll sits in front of me. The first bite; disappointing. Nothing much more than bread. Thank God I went for bite #2. Butter rushed out and into my plate for dipping. MMMM.
What’s that got to do with nursing? Not much. But I’m sitting in the coffee shop/internet café that saw me through MANY MANY hours of studying over the last year.
I can’t believe this…GRADUATION IS TONIGHT! (mmm, cinnamon roll!) I’m not walking in graduation. Really not into that until I get my doctorate. But my Pinning Ceremony was exactly one week ago, and that was really, REALLY awesome.
I guess I’m really in a state of denial. I. AM. DONE! (wow, I’m REALLY making short work of this mammoth cinnamon roll…) I haven’t seen any of my friends, except for one that I helped move out of his apartment day before last with an outside temp of 105. Heat index was around 119. Sheesh. But as far as my friends go, I guess I just feel like I did during May Interim. A little isolated, but we’ll all be together again soon…only we won’t. I’m not depressed right now. I think I will have to be later, but I’m not yet.
**
There is a group that meets to practice 2nd languages here in the café. Today is Spanish. I understand every 5th word. I just looked up to see someone taking a picture of me (well, in this general direction) with an iPhone. Strange. LOL This cinnamon roll is going to give me heart palpitations.
**
Pinning was beautiful. Most of our instructors were in attendance, so that was nice. There were only 22 of us, so it would’ve been easy for them not to come. And the two that our class nominated for awards were NOT in attendance. Lol
I asked Dr. Community Health to do me the honor of pinning me. My last name is at the end of the alphabet, so she thought she was all done pinning her group and had to come back on stage to get me; dead last. I told the audience that we were giving her a workout (pedometer counting is a BIG deal to her, so my sister and brother pin-ees thought that was pretty funny.)
Overall a very nice ceremony. My favorite teacher, the one who kicked off the program with Essentials and Fundies, had one HELL of a time with the Nightingale Pledge she led us in at the end. That was pretty effing hilarious. Apparently, most nurses don’t know the word ‘deleterious’ or how to pronounce it. Bwah-ha!
I was in charge of the actual Pins and of course, IT for the whole show. We had a pretty fun slide show of our pics and random FB quotes throughout the year playing before pinning, with some fun music, like my beloved GaGa’s “Edge of Glory,” James Taylor “You’ve got a Friend,” and ….eh. Can’t remember the others. We processed out to a great one though; “WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS.” Funny.
My goofy Goatee Man missed a happy-pill the day before, which always precipitates about 1.5 days of mania. I’m not kidding. He showed up late to my pinning. At least he channeled the energy well. He had shaven, was wearing nice clothes, and grabbed up my digital SLR camera and shot the whole ceremony as if we’d hired him to do so. (GAWD, I am too effing full. Cinnamon roll gone.)
I was so pleased with the people who showed up to share my success; Mom and Dad, Goatee Man, and some really dear friends of ours that live 1.5 hr away, Tim & Michelle. I can’t *believe* they came, but how cool of them. Also, my niece and her husband came. My niece is only, like 2.5 years younger than I. We just celebrated her graduation in May. She is a history teacher now, and is going to be teaching Special Ed about 30 minutes from here.
I don’t use the word ‘blessed’ too much, because I associate it with some of the hokier sides of churchy-people (a whole ‘nother blog post), but I gotta tell ya; having all those people there for me made me feel blessed.
***
This is another thing about living in a town where there is a lot of bible-belt hokieness…I just took my plate to the counter, leaving my computer, keys, and iPhone unattended here at my table, and they’re all still here now that I’m back. How ‘bout that.
Ugh. My strange nurse-ness just came out. I saw an old friend acquaintance just now who said that they were celebrating their kids 1st year birthday, and what did I say? “Congratulations, you made it through your first year!” Ugh. To self, "What happened to Happy Birthday, you freak." LOL Nursing will definitely change your perspectives. I really meant it. I’ve seen a lot of sick little kids this year, ya know? I at least thought to say Happy Birthday as I walked away. *shaking my head at myself.
***
After pinning, we went to a local pizza place that really looks and feels like a very upscale club. A guy named TONY SPINNER was playing. If you don’t know him, Google the band TOTO, ‘k? A few weeks ago, my band friends (who are friends with Tony) invited me to their practice room to their little jam session and I got to SING. With Tony Spinner. Too cool. And way cool to see him out and about a month later and he remembered me. Don’t know how long he’s in town for.
So Tim, Michelle, Niece, Nephew-In-Law, and [Manic] Goatee Man and I had a decent time at the pizza joint, largely due to Tony Spinner and Gin & Tonic. I was home, in bed, by 11 pm. I was exhausted from all the running around I had to do with sound, lights, and computers for the ceremony, but it was all worth it.
I am now a Graduate Nurse. Better than Student Nurse, fo sho, but marginally. Going to start studying for boards this coming Monday. Yaaaaaay HURST REVIEW.
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