Anew

I'm starting a new semester this week-18 weeks of undergrad courses to get me into Nursing school and I am excited. I can't wait for Anatomy/Physiology. I wonder what life would be like if I took the same class at 19 years old. Quite frankly, I think I would not have cared, drank a Red, White and Blue and been done with it, but now I can't get enough.

I shadowed a nurse for 2 hours this week. I would've done it for 8 hours, but there were limits for them, of course. It was great. I saw what nurses really do-a lot of which I knew already and some stuff I didn't. A lot of time putting things into a computer (well at some of the better hospitals they do charting on a computer and not writing it onto a chart and they can see what is happening in house-the EHR is wonderful in that regard), the family interaction (which is one of the reasons I want to do this so much) and seeing people in their most vulnerable and fragile state. And they trust you. Wow. Unbelievable. I'm still in, wholeheartedly still in.

Oh yeah, my physiology class came in handy too. I look forward to lots of science classes and all that. I'm going to school 2 miles from where I grew up. My friend said to me today-you went to Marquette for undergrad, UW-Madison for graduate school and here you are a few blocks from home. What if you just stayed here and had done that to begin with. My response was, "I wouldn't have got here if I didn't do that first". The response was both sincere and a little joking because it's trite-"LIFE IS A JOURNEY". When put into the context it was, I wholeheartedly agreed.

I would be lying if I said that I wish I didn't know this at 19 years old and I would have done this. But, I never would have gone abroad to school and traveled, I would have met different people, who know what life would be like for me today. That's the thing about decisions. You are always faced with them and you can choose A or B. For the most part you won't be wrong (unless there's something violent or abusive in either choice), you are just choosing a path. You cannot wonder or look back if you chose another, because you didn't. You make a choice and your life moves forward.

I'm pretty sure if you look on Amazon you can find 59 books listed at $19.99 or less that will tell you what I just did last paragraph. You are welcome.

Oh, and trust me, I have plenty of other "what if" type issues...