Start of Spring Semester 2015

    Today was the start of another semester. One of my last two before entering the Nursing Program. I am very determined. I won't overestimate myself and underestimate my classes; that is a sure way to fail. I hope that this semester will be able to help me boost my GPA in order to give me a better chance to get in to the Nursing Program first try and that I will have the knowledge I need to get a high score on my Kaplan exam.

    Of course, Colorado Mesa University is making life harder for prospective Nursing students by limiting the number of times you can take the Kaplan to one. Previously you were allowed two times but not anymore. That means I have to study my butt off to be able to do my best on the very first try. I am an inpatient person and I don't think that I could wait even one more semester before applying. My only other option would be to apply to the BSN and LPN Program at the same time, but I don't see how that can be favorable. It seems like it will only add extra time to my plan and will be putting off the future even longer.

    On another hand. I am applying for a Phlebotomy position at St. Mary's Hospital. I am hoping to be able to work that, Texas Roadhouse and go to school full time. I hope that allows me to save enough money to be able to move out on my own maybe next year. Or that it'll help me to pay for college after my fund runs out. I am worried about losing my scholarship if I don't get into the program on the first try. I have to keep a 3.0 GPA (I'm not sure what happened to my 3.5 GPA Scholarship) and 12 semester hours to keep my scholarship. So if I don't get in, I either have to take enough classes to keep my scholarship or stop going to school until I get in. Both are terrible because My scholarship runs out at 120 hours (which is about how long it takes to get a Bachelors degree) or if I drop below 12 credits or stop going at all. Either way I'm kind of screwed.

    2015 has been filled with a few days full of bad luck but other than that it's been pretty good. I hope that my luck and good fortune continues into the rest of 2015 and that I am successful in getting into the Nursing Program and that my dreams remain within my reach. I feel that if I work hard enough and I am dedicated enough I can get in and accomplish my dreams. With hard work and dedication, anything is possible.

Love, Life, Growing Up

    One week ago was my 3 year anniversary of dating the man of my dreams. 3 years ago he asked me to be his girlfriend not knowing what our future would hold. Neither of us knew where we would be or how long we would be together, or what we would one day mean to each other.

    My boyfriend and I used to work together and had known each other for about 1 1/2 years before we started dating. When we were little, our families lived near each other too; I discovered that I had once sold Girl Scout cookies to his family! (What a small world!) Any who, early in 2011 my boyfriend had just gotten out of a terrible relationship and we went on a fun, pressure free date to the park. We played catch, talked a lot and got to know each other outside of work. We continued to work together and talk but we both started seeing other people.

    When a previous relationship of mine wasn't going very well I turned to my current boyfriend. He talked me through it and helped me figure out what I wanted. That summer came and went without either of us making a move towards the other. At the end of the summer, in August, we went to a movie together and went and sat under the stars together afterwards. Shortly after, he quit his job to focus on school and sports during his senior year of high school so we didn't see each other again until October. Thats when we started hanging out and talking more and more; becoming closer.

    We were constantly hanging out and doing things together, talking and getting to know each other. We would go bowling, have movie nights at his parents house. Play pingpong together. And we went to a dance together in November. The New Year came and he was my first New Years Kiss. Finally, 9 days in to 2012, he finally asked me to be his girlfriend.

    In the last 3 years, we have had ups and downs, we have found the strengths and weaknesses in our relationship. We have learned so much about each other that its crazy to think that we once knew nothing. Its almost more strange to think that I've been friends with him for longer than I have with almost any one else. He knows more about me than any of my friends ever have and I know that I am the only one in his heart, as he is the only one in mine. The last three years of being with my boyfriend have taught me so many things about growing up, maturing and loving another person. It taught me how to love myself, as well. Before I met my boyfriend, I didn't really understand what that meant.. I always thought it was a weird statement "love yourself". But being with my boyfriend has helped me so much to find myself and discover who I want to be. He helped me find Nursing, he helped me to rediscover my love of school and he has helped me to find my own relationship with God.


 

 We went to Prom, to many other dances, we were at each other's high school graduations. We are each other's high school sweethearts. We found hobbies that we enjoyed doing together, like dirt biking and more recently painting. We make compromises for each other and help make each other strong and whole. We really have grown together in the past 3 years.

    On the way home from a weekend Church Youth trip to Ridgeway about 7 months into our relationship, our Pastor asked one of the other kids how we would be able to make our relationship work with my boyfriend going to college and me still being in high school. The kid said that if we focused on each other, avoided temptations and kept God always in our hearts, minds and our relationship, that we could make it through anything. I completely believe that and I know that if we continue to do that as we have for the last 3 years, we can continue to do it for the rest of our lives.

   The thing that I look forward to most in our relationship is  our future together, growing up and finding our way in this world, together. I look forward to being by his side through the ups and downs and having him by mine. 

The Last Month

    The last month of my life has been full of ups and downs, struggles and successes. I finished another semester of college, my boyfriend moved home from Pueblo, we celebrated Christmas, New Years 2015 and soon we will be celebrating our 3 year anniversary of dating.  But those are just the big things that have been happening. Life isn't just full of big moments or events; little ones are just as important.

    At the end of the semester, I ended with 3 A's and a matching 3 B's. I took 13 Credits this semester which doesn't seem like much, but it was a lot more than 13 credits. My Anatomy and Physiology 210 Lab was worth 1 credit but felt like it was, at the very least, a 4 credit course. The work for that class was more extensive and more like a lecture than the corresponding Lecture course. Some of the other girls in that class struggled with me to get the highest grades that we could. Sure, their study techniques may not have been as good as mine and I got a higher grade than them, it was still difficult for all. I am proud to say that I did earn a B and that I was successful in that, but I am disappointed I didn't do better. I feel like If I had tried harder, studied differently, then I would have been able to do better. But then I tell myself that I did the best I could for myself at the time and that I couldn't have done it any differently.

    This last semester was probably the most stressful and intense of them all. I was more stressed and defeated than ever before. But in turn, I was more determined to pull through, too. I was strong willed and more set on succeeding than ever. After meeting with a Nursing Advisor, who said I wouldn't be able to get into the BSN program, I felt a fire that I had never known before. No one can tell me that I can't do something and if they do I will do what I can to prove them wrong. I can't stand people setting limits for me or for others. The only person that is stopping you from doing something is yourself. No one and nothing else can stand in your way of your dreams and I am not going to let anything stop me.

    In a year from now I hope to be preparing to start the BSN program at Colorado Mesa University and will be graduating in May of 2018. That is my hope and I will strive and work my ass off to do it. I don't know what I'll do if I don't get in, but I feel that with how determined I am with school and getting in, I will hopefully be able to do so this year.

    Spring semester starts in a little over a week and I'm so ready to start and keep moving forward! It's so exciting to be getting closer and closer to my dreams and I can feel it within my grasp! I can't wait to be able to call myself a Nurse in just over 3 years!