finding time for gentleness

Currently, I am in my bed with my feet up, one cat next to me while the other is curled on my legs in front of my computer. It's the coldest it has been outside for weeks in the good ol' north in Minnesota so I decided for today to turn my heat up a little higher than I usually do and just be present. 

I don't have children, I live in a one bedroom apartment, and all I have responsibility to take care of is myself (oh, and the fur balls, but lets be honest they take care of themselves) and in my last 6 day stretch of evening shifts I quite nearly failed at a little bit of everything. (applause roars for all you moms & caregivers out there that also work full time (in my case especially NURSES), make food, clean their house, are lovers of their children/ husbands/ family's!; I could go on...I am overly impressed). I am still learning and growing and learning and growing.

Monday I hit a low point and I found a pin on pinterest; (the most inspiring place on the planet, obviously) it went something like this "be gentle with yourself, you're doing the best you can". Oh how this perfectionist heart needed to hear those words. So today I am doing just that. I am ignoring the to-do list of my typical day after a long stretch of work AKA: "laundry day" in other words a trek out in the tundra to the laundromat. I am giving myself some safe space to do what I need to do to take care of myself and save the productivity for when I am more rejuvenated. Finding gentleness for today.

Timely enough, as I was perusing the internet, and one of my Facebook acquaintances posted a link to this article, "20 Signs You're Doing Better Than You Think You Are". Have you read it? Another good reminder to get back to the basics and reminded me to be thankful. I am thankful to be gainfully employed and doing good work, even though it's hard work. I am thankful for a cozy home with a functioning furnace. I am thankful for family who makes time for each other. I am also thankful for these two fur balls who continually are so forgiving of their caregiver ;-). Since I haven't seen my boyfriend in nearly two weeks and I am out of town for Valentine's day (I know I am awful) he planned a date night tomorrow and date day Saturday that I didn't have to think to thoughts about and that of itself was a huge gift.

So wherever you are in your journey whether you are a stay at home mom, single, work from home, are a nurse, or company type find a place for gentleness. I would say when you find space for gentleness for your own life it will begin to overflow and be gentle with others as well.   

working weekends.

I admit, I have mixed feelings when it comes to the topic of working on the weekend.

There's one part of me that wants to tell myself (and everyone else who is complaining!), to get over it. There are people who are sick every day of the year. I am a nurse. I signed up to work a in a career and employed by a place that is open 24 hours a day,  7 days a week, 365 days a year. If I did not want to work on the weekend (or holidays) then I chose the wrong career path and should go find another job.

The other part of me envies the idea that people have the weekends off, with a "normal" schedule, finding some remnants of a routine between their professional life and personal life. I envy the nurses who have the luxury of working every third weekend instead of every other, or those who work 12-hour shifts and get more days off between. Truth be told the times I find myself the most frustrated is at 0200 AM on a Friday night the weekend I am working. The reality is that I could very well not be doing anything different with myself other than laying in bed, laptop open, cats snuggled next to me. But the thief of joy is comparison.

My hope for tonight, and for the rest of my nursing career is that I find peace on the weekends, find joy and purpose in what I do; not to focus on what I am "missing out" on. 

my nursing heart.

oh how my nursing heart needed this weekend.
it needed the good, the bad, the ugly. but in the end it was so so good, my heart is full.

nursing is work, I get paid, I punch in and out of the clock for my shift, I get benefits & PTO.

|B U T|

nursing is my heart. it is my passion, an extension of my purpose in life to serve, learn, and grow from human interaction, in the most intimate, scary, frustrating of times. . . the most exciting, best, and hopeful of times.  my work is filled with juxtaposition, with a lot of complexity, this challenge to find balance for people in their lives and in my career is the fuel for me to keep pursuing to be a better nurse, a better human, for myself, my patients, family & friends. I cannot articulate it to you in any other way than yelling from the rooftops,
"I have found the best career in the world (for me)".

I know that not everyone's career is the same as their purpose in life. Instead, their career enables them to pursue their passions, interests, dreams, and fulfillment. For me, I get fuel for my soul from my career in nursing.

Nursing work is draining, empowering, frustrating, gratifying, everything that one feels when they are working within their strength area. I can only wish but the best for people to find this in their lives, whether this means the source is from employment, hobbies, dreams, motherhood/ fatherhood.

||

I tell this to my patients regularly, no one should be used to or good at navigating the health care system, I don't wish these beds to be filled every night as they are, but I as your nurse am going to do my best to be your advocate, your educator, your assistant during this stressful and uncertain time. there is never a good time for a hospitalization, never a good time to say goodbye to a loved one, never a good time to adjust to a lifestyle change due to health status. I am your nurse, I will be here for you, but it takes you and me, a team, working together to move forward.

It's an empowering experience to work with patience and coworkers over consecutive days and sometimes even weeks, to see your relationship and trust grow, seeing the progress people make, even if it feels like it is "one step forward, two steps back". This weekend was that for me, a reminder that no one enters your life as an accident, I truly believe that each relationship I make at my job, even if it is for a short time has purpose. My patients and fellow nurses/ health care professionals give me so much more some days than I ever feel like I can provide for them, for that I am thankful on this long-weekend of work.        

hi, my name is ashley, and I'll be your nurse for the evening...

nurses week 2014.

I am so proud to see so many of my fellow classmates posting such wonderful pictures, quotes, words, in celebration of nurses week this week. Just a year ago we were students who were on the verge of graduation and could never have guessed what the next year had in store. This week is special to me in so many ways because it's a time I can reflect on so much I have accomplished, so much I am thankful for, and so happy to be in a place surrounded by so many quality nurses on my unit. Tuesday was the first day of celebration of nurses week and that evening my boss came on the unit in scrubs and worked along side us, and throughout the shift passed out these wonderful bags to thank us nurses on her unit. What a great demonstration to work alongside my nurse manager and receive such a fun bag filled with treats and a card that I know I will cherish for a long time to come.

Nursing is so many things that I could never wrap into one blog post, let alone describe how much my heart goes into my job. I love my job. I am so proud to be in this profession. I hope that I can take care of myself so I can take care of my patients. Even on the bad-no good-horrible day, I can't imagine myself having a bad day in any other job.

This week I hope that I can remember all the nurses that left their legacy before me, and act intentionally to be the best nurse I can be, and how I can impact the lives of my co-workers as well as my patients.

Nursing is a team sport and I know I am so thankful for the people that I find around me to support me through it all.

happy nurses week, to all my fellow nursing staff & friends in nursing!

long stretch.

I'm preparing myself for a Monday, which as for anyone in any career can attest can sometimes be more difficult than it should be after a long weekend.

At my job you aren't in over-time until you have worked over 10 shifts in two weeks, instead of the typical 5 days in one week or 40 hours. The benefit you can string a lot of shifts together so that you can get longer breaks between the long stretches, the downfall, the long stretches can be overwhelming to start. It's like adults version of what I referred to as weeks in nursing school as "hell week". So for a more optimistic spin I try to take each shift as it comes. So for today, I am starting my week and going into my weekend I work, so that means working the next 6 of 7 days, 4 of which will be overnight shifts.

So here's my short and sweet update, because I haven't updated in a while and felt like it might be good to say I still exist but am in transition with this new "normal".

..and if you're in the Midwest anywhere you probably are experiencing what you call the snowiest month of the year March|| so much for spring?

overnight.

 

 Picture taken right before the start of my first evening shift on my own this last Friday, 

coffee in hand of course!

Another week of overnights starts tonight! That means I arrive at work around 10:45pm and leave around 8am (if I'm on schedule). This is the second set of shifts where I am working overnights and we'll see how I fair at preparing to switching my biological clock from being up all day, to up all night.

First, this is not an official post on how to prepare for a night shift. HOWEVER, these are things that I have learned so far about myself. Also, I am very fortunate that right now during this time of my life I have no responsibilities other than myself, no babies, no second jobs (that I have to work), no school or homework, no house (I still am living at my parents house), and alongside that I don't have to do my own grocery shopping. So all of these things make switching on rotating evening, and NOC shifts that much easier.

Things I do to help prepare that work really well:
1) Night before my first night shift, stay up until at least 3am...I do laundry, clean my room, organize my calendar for the week, watch Netflix, all the lights in my room, and usually candles are also lit so my body knows to stay awake.

2) I do not get out of bed until at least noon on the first day, if I wake up, I force myself to fall back asleep,...who can complain right, force myself to be lazy all day?!

3) I do not eat any major meal before 1pm (ideally 2 or 3 is best), not only is it difficult to switch sleeping it is difficult to switch eating, if you can switch both it works that much better for me! Along with this I do not eat my "lunch" before 8pm at night. Leaving me with one more "meal" during my shift.

4) I allow myself 1 source of caffeine on my way into the shift, for me its usually coffee, for the first shift of a set of nights, I treat myself to an espresso drink from my favorite coffee shop. I bring a "back-up" source of coffee just in case I need it, but so far I haven't, with the priority being that when I get home from my shift I need to sleep, a full-"nights" sleep.


That's all I got for now. My first 2 shifts riding solo as a nurse have been pretty uneventful, and for me and my work that's all you can hope for! So here's for my first set of nights on my own, and successfully staying awake.

:)

time to grow.

Today's evening shift will be my first nursing shift completely on my own!
My orientation/ precepted shifts are officially complete.

I completed 7 weeks of orientation on the unit, and I feel I am as prepared as I'll ever be to work independently as a professional RN for my patients on this unit. I look forward to building relationships with my co-workers as well as becoming more confident in my own personal practice.

There's a mix of emotions and yet I have a peace that can only come from my God through ways of all the support and love that I have around me. I know where to go to ask questions, and I know that if I have a question I have fabulous co-workers and nurses to ask.

This weekend will be a workout in endurance but I know that I can do it, and look forward to everything I have yet to learn, patients I yet to interact with, and growing personally and professionally with every new shift.

Thanks for your support, and I look forward to seeing what's to come!

First Weekend //day shift//

New Nurse Ramblings

As I head into my first official weekend working as a nurse, luckily because of orientation it's day shifts, I look back to the last three weeks that I've completed and I feel a sense of pride, exhaustion, slightly overwhelmed, but mostly over all of the emotions a sense of peace. As I continue to dive into staff meetings, in-services, online learning modules, orientation, I feel a peace that can only come from a power bigger than myself. I cannot describe to you the feeling other than I have felt it a few times before like when I chose to go to St. Kate's for my undergrad, add a fifth year of undergrad, declared my nursing major, passing my NCLEX exam....I know it is okay and I am right where I need to be.

I do not look back and live in the moment through rose colored glasses. My first pay check in 24-hours was essentially spent on loan payments, car payments, back-peddling from past due expenses that were from when I was working part time. Realistically I won't be able to really feel "settled in" probably until I get through the first two months of work, pay checks, and a routine of working strictly evenings/ nights.

Since January 6th, 2014 {1st official start date}:
Day 1|| 4-hour day of HR welcome/ introduction to the organization regardless of specialty/ job description

Days 2 -5|| 8-hour days of Nursing Systems Orientation, organization-wide for all nursing specialties {spent in the education building out of the hospital in labs & classrooms}

Day 6|| First didactic (8-hour) day with the day nursing unit lead, we were not on the floor, but it did take place on the unit. Introduction to the unit, tour of the hospital, setting up my logins/ passwords for everything, making sure my badge works where it needs to...etc.

Orientation Wk 1; Days 7 - 10|| 4 Day shifts with the same preceptor/ orienting nurse mostly shadowing but finally on the unit in scrubs working with patients {complete}

Orientation Wk 2; Day 11|| 1 of 4 shifts total, 3 will be day shifts with same precepting nurse, and 1 evening shift with a new precepting nurse.

Notes from a Day Shift nurse:
- Getting up to my alarm at 5:15am gets easier the more day shifts I do (...as long as I am in bed by 10pm and asleep by 11pm)
- Routine in charting is key
- Having a pen handy to answer calls from family, doctors, or other departments
- 0800 medications will be the death of me
- Double check medications in med room to make sure you have everything you need, otherwise it wastes time
- Efficiency is everything, especially since there are so many appointments patients need to attend and doctors they need to see during the day


So far so good. One day at a time, but I am so excited to see what more orientation has to offer!

18 days of nursing.

source.

first 18 days of my professional nursing practice.

I'm a little disappointed to be honest I haven't been writing more on this blog for two reasons. One, I know in years to come this will be a beautiful thing to look back on for encouragement and to see where I've come from. Two, there aren't a lot of bloggers that are nurses and really articulate the journey from being a student, to a new graduate nurse, to veteran and I know that would have been awesome for me to read along in my own journey (and for those of you nurses that do exist maybe there are blogs and I don't know about them and would love if you left a comment!). So for myself, and potentially others out there I really am going to try my best to keep blogging, no matter how frequent or infrequent it may be.

Excerpt from my personal journal on Monday, January 13th, 2014:

when you're a new grad, in your first job out of undergrad, and your new boss, who will now forever be known as your first boss as a nurse tells you to buy a journal and to write in it until you at least get through your first year as a nurse, you follow her directions

....and buy a journal. 

I can't say that my writing in my personal journal out of the public eye has been written in much more than my online blog, but it's a start. I value writing, reflecting, and mindfulness. I continue to be amazed by how lucky and blessed I am to have gotten a job, with these people, working in the profession I went to school for, at an institution I could have only dreamed of in nursing school. I believe it was after the first week of orientation, and hadn't even stepped foot on the unit I received the weekly update for our unit from our boss, and at the end there was a section on personal growth and linked to it was a ted talk on vulnerability. I immediately clicked over to it, one because I love Ted Talks, and two I was intrigued as to why my boss/ nurse manager thought this Ted Talk was important enough to put in the weekly news letter. After watching the whole thing I knew why.

Nursing is a hard job, no matter if you work in home care, long-term care, community health, on a hospital unit, the ICU or med-surg, it is a hard job. It is difficult regardless if you work 8-hour days or 12-hour nights, it is difficult. I will speak for myself, but I did not go into nursing as a professional life-long career because I knew it would be easy and I would be the hero in everyone's personal health/ illness story. I went into nursing because there is a place that the nurse stands between the healthy human experience, and an experience that you hope most people don't have to witness in their life of chronic/ acute illness. Nursing has a unique opportunity to work alongside humans at their most vulnerable point and in a sacred space that no one else outside of health care, and arguably other profession can experience. I feel that nursing is the extension of my purpose in this world and am so blessed that I was able to start to figure that out when I was a 16 year old in high school. It now has lead me to this place.

In the first 18 days I have:
- Signed up for insurance and benefits
- Wrote my first nursing note as an RN that did not need to be co-signed or reviewed by anyone else
- Met nurses that work so hard to do the right thing and advocate for their patients
- Have been encouraged and supported by my boss as I venture into uncharted territory
- Received my first full-time nursing pay check
- Signed up for my first two nursing conferences ever in topics of oncology and credit for continuing ed and renewing my license
- first unit staff meeting

It's been a whirlwind experience even in the mundane, intense, and stressful. I have been on a roller coaster ride since I started this position and I once again through it all I have fully come to realize this is the best place for me right now, and that nursing is the career for me.

I just got home from my first staff meeting on the unit and feel like my role is only starting to be realized and am excited to see what God has planned for me even in the near future.

...and one more thing. after today's staff meeting once I pay off all my loans and get a little more ahead in my finances my but is getting myself to yoga ASAP!!

Steffanie BSN, RN

Steffanie BSN, RN!!!!

You did it! After everything was all said and done you rocked it no matter how much you doubted yourself you rocked and kicked the NCLEX-RN exam's ass! You have been with me through it all, every last clinical we were able to share together and I wouldn't have wanted it with anyone else. I have seen you "in action" and you are going to be a hard-working, caring, patient, diligent nurse and your future patients and families will be so lucky to have you. You worked so hard for this day, and I am so glad I can celebrate alongside you. I selfishly hope you stay up north and find jobs together so I am not left to do it on my own. You have been a teammate, classmate, and now a life-long friend! I'm so glad our paths crossed back your freshman year as my "little sis". 

Congratulations!

You are BEAST!

 

 

Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [Pinning Ceremony]

Undergraduate Baccalaureate Nursing Class of Spring, 2013

Something that is unique to nursing that was probably one of my favorite celebratory parts of completing my undergrad was the pinning ceremony. Each nursing school is different and traditionally the idea of pinning ceremonies is "passing on" the art and gift of nursing from one generation of nurses to the next. So for my class this happened the Friday evening before graduation. But enough talk and more photos!

  My mom on the right, aunt on the left. My Aunt has her doctorate of nurse practice and was the person to "pin" me on the night of nursing pinning.

Me and my two brothers. Zach (16) on the left and Ryley (20) on the right. I may be the oldest but never the "biggest". 

 

 Photos with my parents after the ceremony.

It was very nice to have my moms parents there that night to celebrate with me and the completion of nursing school.

A few photos from before pinning ceremony outside the chapel!

 

 Above is a photo of Rachel, Jacki, and I we all went to Africa together in January.

A picture with my coach from four years of college swimming and Melanie!

Pinning ceremony was a great way to end finals week and start the celebration of graduation weekend! I was surrounded by my classmates, professors, coaches, family, and friends that made this possible for me and for that I felt very supported and blessed.

 "Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, 
the believers and the thinkers, but most of all, 
surround yourself with those who see greatness within you, 
even when you don't see it yourself"

{A quote I found on pinterest and had it on my slide for the slideshow before the ceremony began}

Bachelor of Science in Nursing// RN [a metaphor]

As I reflect back I realize that the blog posts from the month of May onward there are a lot of details left out of events in my life. Now that I have more time on my hands, I mean... I feel that now is an appropriate time as any to share some pictures from the past months leading up to now, especially today, where I am officially able to say, "I am a nurse".

The above photograph is the picture taken of me before my undergraduate baccalaureate pinning ceremony in front of the entrance to the chapel on campus. I did have one post mentioning pinning ceremony {here}. 

Nursing school, and really the entire undergraduate college experience is a chapter of life that is very unique and like no other I have experienced thus far. In regards to being a nursing student it really feels like the iron man triathlon race made up of three parts the swimming portion, biking portion, and ends with a marathon (running 26.2 miles). However, the race really began before the getting to the "starting line" - with a lot of preparation and practice. 

Metaphor   

Sign-Up: For me this was before I even started college and was embedded in my process to choose a university. Which really is probably a separate post in itself. However, for both the iron man and nursing school step one is to choose to sign-up and put your name on the dotted line that says, "Yes. This is what I want to do!"

Practice makes perfect: Once you commit, you gotta do it! Both with athletics and nursing school it's not about the one day you wake up and you're ready to race, you gotta prepare yourself for what's to come. In nursing school this means (at least) two years of prerequisite courses in math, social sciences, lab sciences, and other liberal arts required courses (for me this took 3 years). This is the part of school where you learn, or after not-learning, learn again how to study, perform on tests, and memorize an obscene amount of facts that at the time just seem unnecessary. This is where I had to prove to my university and the nursing department that I was an eligible student for their program. 

First year of nursing school// swimming: You start out nursing school feeling on top of the world! I had just gotten accepted into the program I wanted (and felt like I deserved) and was ready to race through the next two years and be done with it!....well as you may imagine I was quickly taught a lesson in humility because this "race" is long and requires a lot of patience, hard-work, and perseverance. If I was going to be successful in nursing school I needed to take it one week, one day, and sometimes even one assignment at a time. Along the way I was introduced to some very crucial professors and friends that helped me up when I was down, and were my cheer leaders when I really needed (because they knew exactly what I was going through).  It was a combination of my stubborn nature, and determination that really got me through this first year of nursing school.

Second year// biking: This is the part of a triathlon that I think sneaks up on you, has potential for wipe-outs, and is the first test of endurance. I went into my second year of nursing school feeling confident, being told that the first year was the hardest and thinking in my head that it would be all "down-hill" from here...oh boi was I wrong! I to this day will tell anyone who asks, I LOVED the first year of nursing (well-it's all a mater of perspective). Put nicely, the second year was rough. BUT, I learned a lot about myself, what capacity I have, and solidified that nursing was the right career choice for me.

I have a feeling (never attempting a triathlon myself) that after biking you want to be able to celebrate a moment, over halfway!...but then again, that one part left is really the most important one, ...the ultimate test of the preparation and hard work you've done to get to where you are. So celebrations are short-lived, like graduation and pinning rehearsal I felt like I could only allow myself to celebrate within reason knowing what was yet to come.

Preparing for NCLEX// marathon: This parallel of comparing NCLEX to a marathon was introduced to our nursing class quite early on in the second year of nursing school. NCLEX-RN is an exam that was going to take an immense amount of effort, emotional perseverance, and time. Preparation for this exam would need to be done in small pieces over a long-period of time, like running a marathon (it really takes a long time!). Every time a teacher said this my stomach turned. I am for one NOT a test-taker, testing and Ashley just do not mix. Yes, I knew that at the end of my schooling I would need to take an exam but up until this point ignorance was very much bliss. This is my identical feeling to running, I hate it, and for sure not in a million years would willingly sign up for running a marathon, let alone an iron man...but I wanted and felt that it is my call in my life to be a nurse...so I had to keep going; so I did. I studied starting the Tuesday after graduation up until the day before the exam. For this very reason is why today I can say I not only passed my exam, but passed it on the first time. Not because it was easy, not because testing is my thing, but because I worked and worked my ass off to pass giving up a lot for the month of June to make taking this exam a once-and-a-lifetime experience. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woah, that's a lot of words...I apologize for being long-winded (hopefully it makes up for a lack of blog-posts in June). Even now as I look back over the past 5+ years, I know this isn't the only..and probably not going to be the hardest "race" in my life, but it is certainly one I will never forget. It's these experiences in life that test our tenacity, perseverance, and ethic that can make the most impact. Even though it has been a few days since I found out I passed I still find myself reflecting back over the experience and the journey which is what made the "end" so special.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I start the next "chapter" in my life as a "young-adult"/ "20-something", there is a lot of unknowns and still a lot of learning and growing to be done.The next which I will begin relatively soon will be applying for my first professional job that will be the start to my life-long career in nursing. I don't know how long or how short it will take to find a job, but I pray that whatever comes ahead of me is the right fit for me right now in this time in my life.

As I sit and type this all out, I really once again am filled with so much appreciation and gratitude of all the people in my life that have supported, loved, and cheered for me along the way to make this whole journey a success. I will be forever grateful and in awe of how God provides exactly what I need when I need it.

I say thank you to you -if you are reading this and were apart of making this happen. Whether you were my elementary school teacher, boss, co-worker, teammate, friend, or family member, I am so thankful for having you in my life. This is also an invitation to get a cup of coffee, go to the beach, and spend time together...well one because I have a lot more time on my hands than I have ever in my life, and two because I want to be able to be there for you too!

What got me through nursing school especially was a quote I found early on in my college career;
Ralph Waldo Emerson:

"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense"

The blog-posts for the remainder of this week will be mostly filled with pictures of celebrations and happenings surrounding pinning, graduation, and NCLEX
{Consider this your warning ;-)}

BSN, RN

For now I'll leave it with I PASSED my nursing board exam (NCLEX)!
I found out this morning after taking it on Wednesday; to say I'm happy is an understatement.

Here's to relaxing and celebrating all weekend long!

Melanie BSN, RN

Congratulations Melanie!!

I know I'm bias but I'm pretty sure I have the smartest friends around. I mean seriously, everyone passing their boards the first time in the fewest amount of questions possible?! Yeah, they're pretty awesome. Melanie is no different. She is the most caring, loving, non-judgmental person I know and it will make her a really good nurse because of it. She is a very loyal friend, and can't imagine my life without her. I am really excited to see where her nursing career takes her, because she is someone any employer would be lucky to have! 

Melanie, you rocked it, and you're so humble about it too. I have a lot of learning to do having you as a friend. Now it's time, you can enjoy summer in any way you feel like! (I guess now it's my turn, way to set the standards REALLY high...) ;-)

Ashley, BSN RN//

(No....not me....not yet)

Congratulations Ashley!!

I am so excited for you, yesterday when you called me after the exam I just knew you passed! So today when you texted me that it was official I was elated!You have worked hard, studied a lot, and gave up other "college" things to finally say you kicked NCLEX's butt! It's crazy to think that just over two years ago I first met you in our first nursing clinical and now we can say we were roommates and friends. Fargo, ND is so lucky to have you as their newest edition. The babies and families will be loved and cared for to the fullest during their time in the NICU.

You're going to be a fabulous RN, and I can't wait to see where life takes you on this journey!  

(Thanks for motivating me to keep studying and preparing for my exam, it's the support from you that I appreciate more than you'll ever know!)