Nursing School Drop Out?!…..Yes, I almost was!

Recently, I had the rare opportunity to thank someone that played a rather large role in my decision to actually complete nursing school and become a nurse.  It all came about thanks to Centra starting the new Living Well program and my blood pressure being a whopping 122/80 when I was seven months pregnant.  Due to this sign that apparently my health was in imminent danger, I was forced to return for a follow up health screening after my sweet boy was born.  The day of my appointment, I begrudgingly woke up early enough to go to the hospital, get my weight and blood pressure checked along with handing over a couple of tubes of blood and return home before Chris left for work.  When I got there I was talking to the nice nurse practitioner (who for the record, also really didn't understand why I needed a follow up visit) about my life in general.  We were talking about having small children and she asked me what my schedule is like.  I told her that right now I am able to work part time in the evenings and some weekends.  She seemed so excited for me that I am able to spend so much time with my children while they are so young.  I told her how fortunate I am to be a nurse and have a flexible schedule.  We glamoured over how wonderful it was for a few minutes and then preceded with my exam.  As I was talking to her, I knew she looked familiar, but couldn't really place where I knew her from.  On my way out the door, I caught a glance at her name tag.  It said Cathy Kay.  It dawned on me that she used to be a professor at Liberty in the nursing department when I first started out in school.  Not only was she a professor, but she was my first college advisor!  I was thinking that it is cool that she is doing this now and went on my way out the door to leave the hospital and go face the day.

On my way home, I started reminiscing about those days that seem so long ago and that lovely freshman year of college I trudged myself through.  I got to thinking about the (I believe one and only) day I went in to see Mrs. Kay at the end of my first semester.  It was time to get advice on my schedule for next semester.  At the time, I had fought and kicked my way through Anatomy and Physiology I and had been warned at least 100 times by my scary professors and exhausted upperclassmen that it only gets worse.  So I marched right in Mrs. Kay's office and proclaimed that I really didn't need advice on what classes to take to get into the nursing program because I was quitting.  I told her I had come up with a plan to go to school to be a dental hygienist like my wonderful Aunt Mari-jo.  I had my mind made up and I was not going to let anyone change it.  The idea of being a dental hygienist had all A's in my book- good money, good hours, and I like teeth for the most part.  I figured it would be perfect for me and I could learn everything I needed to know about the mouth, finish school in less time, and probably start off making better money.  Well, Mrs. Kay just sat back and listened to my spill about my future plans and didn't say too much at first.  I was thinking I won her over, maybe she wants to be a dental hygienist too!?  Maybe we can go to school together?! Then she calmly told me my idea was good, but do I really want to go into something where I basically do one thing everyday for the rest of my life?  She said she knew I didn't want to continue right now, but at least think about the TONS of options that come along with being a Registered Nurse, especially with my Bachelor's degree.  She spit out a ton of options that probably included everything from being an ICU nurse to a home health nurse to a mental health nurse.  I said thanks so much, but my mind was still made up.

So, I left that day and to be honest I do not know when I changed my mind back and decided to stick to nursing, but I do know for a fact that what she said that day really did have an impact on my decision to stick with it.  Looking back now, I know that God was right there in that room telling her what to say to me.

So, as I was driving home that morning and remembering all this, it dawned on me that I just had a conversation with this same special lady about how wonderful my schedule is all because I'm a NURSE!!!!!!

Oh my!  How God works in so many ways!!  I was so excited and wanted to share this with her that I almost called her when I got home.  I was afraid she would think I was completely crazy so I decided to wait until my next follow up visit (yes, I had to go back again to go over my new lab work….).  So last week, I finally made it back to her office and after I received the great news that my health is good, I told her my story.  Of course, this was over 10 years ago and she had no idea who I was (nor did I expect her to), but I could tell by the look on her face how much it meant to her that I came back to tell her how much she influenced my life!  What a happy moment between two people who are basically strangers, but God brought together to celebrate how He is at work every day in our lives!!

I thank God so much for the many people in my life that have influenced me in so many ways- both in big and seemingly little ways.  My family, my friends- thank you all so much for always supporting me in my sometimes crazy ideas.  And Aunt Mari-jo- if you are reading this- thank you for always being there for me and for being an awesome dental hygienist!!!  It takes special people to look inside other people's mouths all day long and keep their teeth nice and clean.  Although, I still think it would be cool to be a dental hygienist, I guess God knew that I would be happier doing the nursing thing.

What kind of cool stuff has God done in your life like this?!  Leave me a comment and tell me all about it!