The last 2 years

It was brought up on a forum I frequent the topic of reflecting on the last 2 years of your life.  Here is my reflection.

Two years ago, it was the Spring of 08. I had applied to nursing school and was waiting to hear whether I got accepted or not. Around this time, I had just began working a new job in retail where I met some people that I'm still very good friends with.

I found out I was accepted to nursing school in July. I still have the acceptance letter.  

That same month, I moved in with my boyfriend and got my first "real" apartment, meaning it wasn't managed by my university at all. It was also our first official place together. We ended up getting our first cat, Heathcliff, soon after.

 

In the Fall of 08, I ended up withdrawing from a number of my classes because of working pretty much full-time hours in retail. I ended up having 36 hours/week or something like that, and during holiday I was working as a lead cashier and had a shit-ton of overtime. 

 

Me and A really worked on our relationship, and we spent quite a bit of time with his friends.

During the winter, I turned 21 and went out to a bar for the first time legally. This of course was the first of many bar nights for me. 

I officially started my actual major requirements in the Spring of 09. For Valentines' Day, me and A went on our first ever vacation in nearly 4 years of dating to Gatlinburg for the weekend. 

I also visited NYC for the first time for my Spring Break, going to see my friend in Queens. I took a train 18 hours from Maysville, KY to Penn Station, NY. Yeah, my butt was sore.

 

That summer, I went to Texas to spend time with my mom and little sister, and ended up meeting a really cool PSC person. The store I worked at was remodeling, so I spent a few 40 hour weeks prior to that cleaning, lugging around boxes, packing shit up and moving it to a storage area. 

 

 

 

 At the end of the summer, I got to meet three more really amazing people from PSC. I also applied for a scholarship through the hospital, which I received, taking a big burden off of my shoulders regarding financial aid.

 

In the Fall of 09, my really good friend K moved back to KY and I got to start spending time with her again. 

At the same time, I met a whole bunch of new friends through my best friend, M, and found an entirely new friend group. I spent a lot of time with my nose in a book, or a pipe to my lips. I quit my job because I was sick of working retail, but I stayed friends with everyone who worked with me.

 

During the winter of 09, me, M and my other really good friend, H, drove down to Florida to visit M's grandparents. We all fell in love. Some of us with the experience, some of us with a guy named Bryan that she later would find signs of everywhere. We celebrated NYE in West Palm Beach, and I officially rang in the new year by throwing up my 6th cranberry & vodka of the night on Clemantis St.

  When I got back from Florida, we got our second cat, Duckie.

 

This spring, I began my third semester of nursing school, which was my med-surg clinical and by far the roughest semester of them all. I cried more tears this semester than any other and it showed me how much I am not going to be a floor nurse. It made it clear, although I have known in my heart all along, that I am meant to be a psych and/or public health nurse. Me and A recently moved to a new place, a townhouse with two stories and two entrances.

I'll be honest. I was much happier about a year ago. This time last year, I was on cloud 9, smiling and laughing and showing off my straight A's. I've lost some friends that I never thought I would lose over some shit that I never knew was a big deal. I've never done this poorly in school. I've never doubted myself this much and been this confused about my purpose. I had much more money in my pocket last year. I was finally getting close to paying off all my credit card debt. Now, I am back up to like $1200 in the hole.

At the end of the day though, I'm really happy to at least be where I am for the moment. I have 3 semesters of school left and about 2 years left until I'll officially be working. I already have a job lined up, I just have to make it through the rest of the program, which I have been told over and over again that it's "all downhill from here" by people ahead of me.

I feel like I have a lot of work to do on myself, on my relationship, on my social life and with my family. But...as always....I welcome the fact that I am a work in progress.