A look back at what has brought me here....

This time tomorrow afternoon, I will officially be a nursing graduate. Wow.

If you would have told me about four years ago (right after graduating from OSU) that I would one day go back to school for nursing, I don't know that I would have believed you.

Not that I have or had anything against nursing at that time, I just really didn't see my life heading in that direction. I've told several people this story so if you have heard it already, now you get to read it! :) A little glimpse of "karma" in my life...

I will never forget sitting in my "office" during my Internship my senior year of college looking for a job. I had only one month to go until I was going to be kicked out into the real world. I needed a job, quick!

So I started to browse all the health related organizations I could think of.

Back up...for those of you who don't know, I have my undergraduate Bachelor's degree in Health Promotion. What can you do with a Health Promotion degree? Umm..good question!! Not as much as I had hoped!

This quickly became my attitude towards this degree that I had worked so hard towards for four years. Yes, it's great that I have a Bachelor's degree but now what do I do with it?? What CAN I do with it??

My original intention behind choosing Health Promotion as my degree of choice was wanting to go to into Physical Therapy. Long story short...that path didn't work out and honestly was not the right one for me.

So back to the job search.....

I eventually end up on a hospital website looking for jobs that I might be qualified for. I mean, I now have this fancy Bachelor's degree, surely there are numerous positions that I am qualified for just for having a degree, right...?

Wrong.

I quickly began seeing a theme in the medical world of job listings and here's what it was:

RN
RN
RN
RN Director
RN
RN Team Leader
RN
RN Case Manager
RN
RN Home Health
RN
RN

Does that get the point across????

All I could think of at that moment was this, "Wow, I really seemed to have picked the wrong field. Maybe I should have just gone to nursing school. Too late now."

Karma.

I remember thinking to myself that nursing didn't really interest me. I really had no desire to be a nurse. Even though the field of nursing looked like a great option as far as job opportunities went, it still wasn't enough to make me feel like it was something I could see myself doing.

Fast forward two years....I started working as Medical Assistant and was told by my boss at the time that I could go back to nursing school and finish in just 14 months. 14 months?? Really?? Well, I maybe could do 14 months of school but nah...not right now.

Fast forward one more year....I met my future husband and my life changed forever. I brought up the idea of going back to school for nursing to Wes and received nothing but encouragement and support to become everything he (and I) knew I was capable of. He kept telling me that I should do it and could do it.

He believed in me. That was all I needed to hear. I felt like it was now within my reach and I went for it. One year later, I got my acceptance letter and 14 months later...here I am....DONE!

What a journey it has been to get to this point. Many, many late nights studying and trying to finish up care plans while trying to stay rested for the next day. And many days that led to tears of stress and frustration.

But I made it through and I am so proud of the choices I have made. God knew what He was doing all along. Each one of those steps that lead me to today were guided by His mighty hand. It was all a part of His plan for my life and what a wonderfully beautiful plan it is!