The New Journey Begins.......

So Britt & Amber finished up their academics at Gadsden State this summer. Britt ended with an overall 3.96 GPA, Amber had a 3.34. We were sooo proud of both of them. They filled out about 6 dozen forms, sent in the proper admission work to ask for acceptance to the registered nursing program then they waited.....and waited.....and waited....and waited. FINALLY after about 100 weeks, the girls were at Britt's house and I went out to the mailbox. There it was, the long awaited letter addressed to Amber with a return address of Jacksonville State University School of Nursing and Health Sciences. It was a white letter sized envelope. The writing was black. I held it for a nanosecond then called the girls "THE MAIL CARRIER IS ON HER WAY TO YOUR HOUSE AND THE LETTERS ARE HERE!!!". I jumped in the car and took off up the street to Britt's. We waited anxiously by the mailbox for the carrier to come back up her side of the street. We told her why we were waiting and she said "Yes, I've got your letter" and handed Britt a big 8x11 brown envelope addressed to Britt with the same return address as Ambers. At the same time we all got a sinking feeling. The envelopes were different so obviously they didn't contain the same information. We were right.......Britt's letter started with "Congratulations!"....Amber's started with "Unfortunately". We were all crying. Crying with happiness for Britt, sadness for Amber but mostly for the fact that their journey together would end here. They started taking college classes together in the Fall of '06 right before Britt gave birth to Maliyah. They had done it all together. They were encouragers for each other. They pushed each other to do better. Now it was stopping. They were on their own.

After things calmed down, Amber called the advisor at JSU. He told her that they only accepted 50 applicants...Amber was #54 on the list. He told her that if anyone didn't accept their slot, it would be given to the next person on the list. Again a wait. This time worse than the last.

There were a couple of people in their microbiology class who had also not been accepted. They came home from class a few days later and said the guy who was number 1 on the list got his call. I was at a car dealer with Kaylor on about August 7th or so. My cell phone rang and it was Amber saying "So I need to get my schedule worked out and all because I GOT IN!!!". The advisor had called her at work (big no no to answer her cell phone at work but she knew who it was and was totally not going to NOT answer) She was so excited she talked about a 80 miles an hour!

We went to Fuji Japanese Steak House to celebrate (for the 2nd time, we had already celebrated for Britt). The second they saw each other there, they ran, screaming, jumping....you'd have thought they had won the lottery.

Classes started Aug 28th. This semester they're studying Pharmacology, Nursing Fundamentals and Health Assessment. They're going to classes Mon-Fri 8-3 or so. They leave home at 6:45 every day. They stay after class and have formed a study group with some classmates. They're working so very hard. I know they'll do well. It's going to be a long road...a hard road...but so very very worth it in the end!

Hopefully, if you're lucky, someday after Dec 2010 you'll look up from your hospital bed and see Britt or amber taking care of you. :-)

Sooooo.....

Brittany goes to school full time, hoping to graduate in '10 with a BS in nursing. I watch Maliyah during the day while she's at school. I love spending time with her and watching her grow. She loves putting things in and taking them out of anything...everything. Amber gave her a small purse to put things in. Her current favorite thing to do while she's here is carry the purse around, put the strap over her head then scream like a wild banshee until I remove it for her. Then she promptly repeats the process. Fun game. :-)

I was extremely proud when our oldest daughters decided to become nurses. Following in my footsteps? Not so sure that's why they did it, but we're proud of them nonetheless. I went to LPN school, graduating in 1985. I then went on to get my RN degree in 1987. I worked one year in general med surg, diabetic, psychiatric nursing then in 1988 found my true calling. I was an ER nurse at the 3rd busiest ER in the state until I retired in '01. I loved the people I worked with, I loved the docs (well, most of them) and loved my job. It's wonderful to get paid well to do something you truly love doing! I have soooo soooo many stories from my life in the ER. Some super funny, some super sad but all more posts for another day.

Guess I'll post more later. Maliyah has found a new game of closing the front door and squishing the dog with it. The dog's not enjoying it so much so I'll go rescue her.