Semester Four, Week Fifteen

A week before I graduated school, I took a long drive. As I drove past the spot my boyfriend and I broke up nearly two years ago, I reminisced of how dramatically, excitedly, and interestingly my life has changed since I got the email that I was accepted into nursing school April of 2014.

I moved to the area still heartbroken over a series of events from the summer; the wounds raw and sore. Having never ventured out on my own before, I found myself with a peculiar older roommate who had a penchant for following me around and having the most bizarre conversations, like how she'll for sure stuff her cats when they die, so that they can always be with her.

I was sad and lonely most of the time, essentially the exact opposite of how I hoped I would feel. I worried I had made a mistake; that I would fail nursing school, that pursuing this dream would end much like the rest of my life; in failure.

Time progressed, my heart began to heal. 

May 2015, my family and I were hit hard, again; a continuance of the summer of 2014's peril. The day after all was said and done, I drove, and cried. There was nothing more I could do. Classmates asked where I had been, what I had been up to. How could I explain?

Year one, done. Summer came, and passed. I dated the wrong guy, had my wisdom teeth extracted, developed complications, healed, sought housing, which resulted in a miraculous event: my own place for semester three.

It was a difficult semester, mentally, and emotionally. My thyroid levels were out of control, my dog became sick, and died, my friend was re-diagnosed with cancer. To be honest, I don't know how I made it through. The grief was real, dark, and I was drowning.

Another break, and I learned another hard lesson about life: sometimes the hardest thing and the right thing are the same.

Semester four, the last of them all. An uphill climb, stressful, yet it flew by, and I've connected well with classmates whom I had not connected with previously. Spring break, capstone begins; I learn what autonomy looks like.

Awarded for academic excellence; I was soaring. A few bumps in the road, for you know, with victory also comes hardship.

Capstone ends. And here I am, ready, at long last, to graduate.