Thankful Thursday | goodbye, clouds!

This week, I am thankful:

that there’s lots of sun in the forecast coming up

It was so gloomy out all day yesterday, I was feeling a little bit blue.

But I looked ahead in the forecast and there are LOTS of sunny days coming up. Woohoo!!

That will be good for my mental state. 🙂

And knowing that there’s sun ahead helps me get through the cloudy days.

that my office has a window

When I moved in here, I purposely put my desk right by the window.

That way, even on cloudy days, I still have some daylight.

For many, many years, I blogged in the basement of my other house, and my goodness, I so much prefer having a desk by a window!

that my friend is coming to visit me!

My dear friend Mia from Ohio is flying in for the weekend, and I am so super happy about that. I have not seen her since the summer of 2021, I think, so we are waaaay overdue for some in-person friend time.

We text all the time and also talk on the phone when we can manage to sync our schedules, but still, there’s nothing like in-person time.

We are SO excited!!

that my first exam went well

I only got one wrong, so yay!

Now I just have to do this a bunch more times, and then I’ll be through the semester. 😉

We have five exams in the first six weeks of this semester, so I’m gonna be a pretty busy test-taker for a bit here.

for the advantage of being a woman and a mom

This semester one of our classes is women’s health/OB, and I’ve been saying that for this class, it’s a serious advantage to be a woman with kids.

A lot of the test questions are rather obvious if you’ve been having periods, have experienced pregnancy, have raised babies, and so on.

I feel a little sorry for the dudes in my class; this has to be so much harder for them!

for my math background

We learned IV math yesterday, and I felt grateful again for the years I spent teaching math to my kids. I think that’s the main reason that med-math is not overwhelming for me.

I was not born a math whiz…I’ve just done a lot of math in my lifetime. 🙂

for the beautiful fog the other day

While I would not want fog all the time, I do have a deep appreciation for a foggy morning, especially when the sun is peeking through.

I took so many pictures when I went walking that morning!

All of my usual sights look way more magical when they’re covered in fog, so I just kept wanting to stop and take more pictures.

Isn’t it wild how this next one looks like it’s had some sort of filter applied? It really was that foggy out!

for friends at school

This morning, I’m getting together with one friend so we can practice our competency skills* before we test this morning.

I also am part of several group texts (like one with my lab group from last semester and one with some friends who sit by me in lecture), and it’s so helpful to be able to ask questions and bounce things off of each other.

I don’t know everyone in my 130+ people class, but I do know a lot of them now, and that makes me happy.

*Competency testing happens every semester before clinicals; we go into a lab at school and do a head-to-toe assessment, vital signs, put on and take off personal protective equipment, give an injection, give a G-tube med, and give oxygen, all with a fake patient (called a manikin), while a professor passes or fails us.

If we fail any skill, we get two more chances to come back in and try it again.

for the way that age doesn’t matter in nursing school

I think I’ve mentioned before that I made two really good friends at school, and they sit on either side of me.

One is 20, the other is in her 30s, and I’m in my 40s, so we represent Gen Z, Millenials, and Gen X (that’s me!) and somehow, our age difference just doesn’t matter at all.

I love that.

____________________

Alrighty. I’m off to practice my competency skills for two hours and then do my test. I’m pretty nervous (this test is happening so early in semester two!), but I’ve been practicing, and even if I do fail a skill or two, I am sure I can pass on a second try.

What are you thankful for this week?