Today was the first day of classes for millions of college students. I did not go to school today. Because I am no longer a student. How weird is that? I still have not entirely grasped this concept. Now, when I fill out forms, in the blank that says occupation, instead of writing student, I can write nurse. That still freaks me out. I feel old.

I love working on the pediatric floor. Working with kids is so much fun. I feel like I'm playing everyday. Lately, however, the hospital has been quite full, and we've been getting some "non-traditional" pedi patients. Today I took care of a very nice man in his 50's. He came in on Friday for what was supposed to be an outpatient biopsy. But something happened, he had some kind of reaction, and he bought himself a 4 day stay in the hospital. Bummer. But it gets worse. Today, his doctor informed him that he has a very aggressive form of cancer that is already spreading inside him. I wanted to cry when I learned this. He and his wife did cry. They were given the news shortly before the end of my shift, and once I knew they had been told, I found myself unable to go back into the room, because I had no words. What do you say? Everything you've always heard seems so cliche and meaningless. It's strange, because you would think that having dealt with cancer in my own family, I would be more able to handle this kind of situation. But I can't. I don't even think I really handled it when it happened in my family. I knew what was going on, but I never really faced the reality of the situation. Fortunately, in that case, everything worked out as hoped, and I never had to face the kind of gravity this couple is currently facing. Maybe their story will have a happy ending too. I sure hope so. All I know is I now have an entirely new appreciation for the nurses who work in situations like this everyday. I don't know that I could do it.

An unexpected day off from work is always nice. Too bad it came with 3 phone calls before the hour of 8am, but I'll take what I can get.

Megan and I rode to Arlington together today. Car rides with Megan are always fun. We like to enjoy a little something we like to call "sing-along time." It's pretty self explanatory, I think. And highly enjoyable. We even serenated Stan via walkie talkie a time or two. Stan was following us in his truck. He got to ride with Jackson, who we sedated shortly before leaving Abilene. I've never really been around anyone who was stoned, but I'm pretty sure Jackson was well on his way. His eyes were bloodshot, his tail was drooping between his legs and he could barely stand. We had to assist him in loading up into Stan's truck because once he got his front half in, he couldn't muster the energy to get his back half to follow. It was really all quite humorous.

Tomorrow my mom and I are leaving to go to my grandparents' lake house. I'm pretty excited. Should be a nice, relaxing weekend. (Sorry Brandon...Not trying to rub it in or anything...)

School starts on Monday. This affects me in no way. How weird is that?

Yesterday was Jackson's 6 month birthday. For anyone out there who does not believe that we had a birthday party for him, complete with party hats and cup cakes, I have included this picture. So maybe the only people who attended the party were Megan, Stan, Brandon, and me, but we had a party nonetheless. (And in case you were wondering, yes, that is Tinkerbell on the party hat. What else can you get for a dog who's favorite color is pink?) The cupcakes were a big hit with Jackson. He ate about 5 of them. One of which we actually gave him. The other 4 he took when no one was looking. What a sneak...

So Phyllis and I spent just about all day yesterday and today helping out at Global Samaritan. I really enjoy volunteering there. Cat and the other guys who run it are fabulous, and it feels really good to be a part of something that's bigger than myself. We've been helping them put together a display board for Service Expo at ACU and Lectureship, and helping them finalize the design for their logo. It's really exciting to be involved in making decisions that will affect how things will be permanently. Brandon came with us today and helped us finalize the logo design. I think it turned out really nice. The display is just about ready too, and I think it's going to look really sharp as well. And anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love anything involving paper or office supplies or organizing things, so I'm in heaven. I'm really looking forward to seeing what else we can get involved with at Global Samaritan throughout the semester, and what kinds of doors it will open.

Today started off normal enough. I had the day off, so I decided to get some stuff done that I've been putting off for a while. It was actually quite a productive day. But at some point in time between then and now, things took an interesting turn. We had a pleasant enough evening. Megan and I conned Roommate Phil into coming over to hang our celing fan in the pink room, we made nachos, and then the 3 of us and Stan played a lively game of Monopoly, in which Stan beat the pants off us all. After Stan gloated a little, we decided to go visit Phyllis at work. We took Jackson along with us, because we learned recently that he enjoys ice cream just as much as the rest of us. When we got back to the house, we noticed Brandon's car across the street, so we figured he must be next door at James' house. We decided we ought to go say hi. We knocked several times, but no one answered, so we decided to let ourselves in, since the door was unlocked. I think we nearly gave James a heart attack. But he recovered quickly, and we had a pleasant chat with him, Brandon and Jairo for a few minutes. We invited them over to watch Serendipity with us, but they refused. So Megan, Stan, Roommate Phil, and I headed back to the house for the movie. Megan and Stan didn't quite make it through the whole movie before passing out, but Phil and I managed to see the end. When it was over, I offered to give Phil a ride home so he wouldn't have to walk home at midnight. When I opened the front door, I was greeted by trees full of toilet paper, and a car wrapped in seran wrap. Hmm...I wonder who could have done that? I looked over and noticed James walking a friend out to her car, so I immediately began interrogating. As I made my way over to his house, I caught a quick glimpse of Brandon just inside the front door. As soon as he saw me, he bolted to the back of the house. They tried to shut me out, but I was too quick. I caught the cultprits and demanded that they clean up their mess. While we out in the yard watching them climb the trees in effort to get toilet paper out, we heard shouting coming from a house across the street and a few doors down. Their dog was having puppies! How exciting! Jairo and I decided it might be fun to see, so we decided to be neighborly and go say hi. Their front door was open and the guy who lives there was running around excitedly in his living room telling someone on the phone about the puppies. We congratulated him and asked if we could come take a look. He was more than happy to allow us in. I had never seen a freshly born puppy before. They're definitely cuter when they're cleaned up a bit... As we were standing around in awe of the single puppy that had been born so far, I suddenly realized I had my camera in my hands from taking pictures of the boys cleaning up the toilet paper. So I offered to take some pictures for them. I only got a few, because only one puppy had been born, and the mom was pretty protective of it. We stayed around for a few minutes to see if we could catch the birth of any more of the puppies, but she seemed to be taking her time, and the place was getting a little crowded with people who actually knew the owners of the dog, so I decided to head back home. But the guy who lives there told me to be sure to bring him copies of the pictures I got. Funny way to meet one's neighbors. Oh well. It was fun. When I got back to my house I learned that there was craziness going on here as well while I was away. Apparently Brandon and James had decided to do a little late-night trampoline jumping on our duct taped trampoline. James recalled that he used to be able to do a back flip, and wondered if it was a skill he still possessed. Apparently he was a bit rusty. He ended up flipping off the trampoline and somehow hitting his wrist on our house. Not sure how that happened, but he seemed to be in a bit of pain. I did my nurse-ly duties and looked it over. It didn't seem to be severely damaged, so I recommended an ice pack. And no more back flips. Man. This night has been insane.

I just realized something. I was on Facebook, just browsing through my friends who had recently updated their profiles, when it suddenly dawned on me that the first thing I check on many of my friends is their relationship status to make sure they haven't become engaged without my knowledge. It sounds silly I know, but it seems to be happening much more frequently than I'd like to admit. Add to that the fact that today at work when a fairly attractive young surgeon who we'd never met before came to our floor, my coworkers immediately began looking for a wedding ring, and sneaking me winks and nods when none was discovered. We then found out that his cousin is a nurse on one of the other floors, and that he was planning on stopping by to see her when he left our floor. So as soon as he walked down the hall, they picked up the phone, called his cousin, and started grilling her about his relationship status. Turns out he's married with a baby on the way. "Oh well," they told me, "we'll keep looking for you." They're seriously trying to get me married off. I'm beginning to feel like maybe singleness is viewed as some kind of disease or something... But really, it's not that bad. I'm happy with my life at the moment. I'm very happy for all of my married/engaged/practically engaged friends. And I think the set-up attempts are humorous and entertaining. Who knows, maybe one day they'll actually find me one who is single too... ;)

Behold: the most fabulous clock ever.



I bought it today at Hobby Lobby. I saw it on the shelf and fell in love. I then spent the next few hours of my life searching for just the right numbers to photograph to bring my beloved clock to life. Most of them came from around my house, but a few required a bit of stealth. The 5 came from the side of a truck in the Bueno parking lot, and the 9 came from the front porch of an unknown neighbor. We tried a few times to get the 10 from the street sign for 10th Street, but after a few failed attempts involving my hanging half-way out of the passenger side window of Megan's Jeep, I had to satisfy myself with a picture from a magazine.

So I know I have been lax in my postings lately, and for that I apologize. Life has been a wee bit insane lately. Phyllis and I returned on Monday from a weekend trip to her hometown of Grand Haven, Michigan. It was a fabulous time. It was fun to meet all of her friends and finally put some faces with names. We planned our trip around the final weekend of the Coast Guard Festival, which takes place in Grand Haven each summer to celebrate the birthday of the US Coast Guard. And, like any good American tradition, provides a good excuse for hundreds of people to cram into a very small area and get drunk. It was a lot of fun. (Note to the parents: Don't worry. I was not a participant in the drinking. Just a spectator.) Highlights from the weekend included an art fair, swimming in Lake Michigan, getting nauseated just watching the carnival rides, meeting lots of fun new people, eating good food, seeing the most incredible fireworks show ever, walking almost everywhere we went, listening to funny Michigan accents, enjoying the cute little town, and taking a break from real life.