Once upon a time, in the midsts of some trials, I had a wonderful stranger reach out to me and pray over me, my husband, our marriage, and our family.
I remember it like it was yesterday. We were at a baseball game and I got this call by said stranger. I took the time to speak to her because I figured it was God’s way of reaching out to me. And indeed it was.
We spoke for over an hour. At one point I was standing by a tree trying to get some shade and as I looked up in front of me I had the most perfect view of my husband. In that exact moment she said, you have your trials which are making you a better woman and a better christian and although you don’t understand why things are the way they are don’t forget that you and your husband are still individual persons at the end of the day and God has a plan for him. He has his own trials and his own testimony. God has a plan for him and the things that are happening to him are happening for a reason. He is meant to go through the things that he has gone and is going through because in the long run, God will use it for good.
Her words touched me. I never looked at it that way. I never thought of our trials as individual trials. It was definitely a reality check for me. Since then I’ve been more aware of the things happening in our lives as individuals not just as a family.
I say all this because my husband is amazing. He is far from perfect but he is a dream come true. He is Humble, hard working, loving, and caring. He never stops. He’s always on the go taking care of him self whether is by eating right and working out, he’s involved with our children in all areas of their lives. And I mean like every area. I am both lucky and blessed to have him as my parenthood partner. And he’s always going the extra mile to help me out. He’s willing to cook, clean, take a day off to stay with the kids, the list goes on. But most importantly he’s always pushing me to be the best version of me possible.
I don’t think he truly knows the blessing that he has been in my life. I want to tell the world how amazing of a man I had the privilege of marrying but I can’t brag, not in social media, not to those that wouldn’t understand or those would take it the wrong way. Instead I’ve decided to post it here so that our children and grandchildren can read about this awesome man. I have decided to be thankful to God for this precious gift. For this man that although very far from perfect is truly the most perfectly imperfect man I have ever met.
My love, I love you beyond words. I look forward to spending the rest of my life with you. Of growing old together and reminiscing on the good old days and the not so good old days. Thank you for all that you do for me, for us, for our little family. I wish tons of blessings upon you. I pray that you never loose your humbleness and that you never stop caring and trying your hardest. I pray that you reach your full potential in this journey that we call life. I love you far beyond the moon. 🌙
I loved psych! I feel that psych is full of interesting diagnosis that truly do impact the personalities we encounter out in the real world. I've always loved it, at one point during my pre reqs days I contemplated minoring in psych so I chose to take psych courses as my free electives. I never proceeded with that plan because schooling for me was already taking too long to finish but if I do ever decide to have a change of heart I have a good amount of class credits towards it.
I
honestly did not know what to expect or what I would be learning. All I could
think about was depression, anxiety, bipolar, and some Personality disorders.
And even with that little did I know that a personality disorder what not what
I thought it was.
The
whole rotation was such a great experience. I honestly learned so much and was
exposed to so many things that I didn’t fully understand. The course was so
much different compared to the regular med/surg rotation and the disease
process. I was very intrigued and this experience will stay with me for the
rest of my career, as I am able to see patients from a different perspective. I
never thought of it that way but these kind of patients are complex all on its
own then to add other health issues on top of whatever else they are dealing
with mentally is very challenging.
Clinical
at first was definitely intimidating. We had our psych simulation that first
week which was meant to give us an idea of the things that might happen while
we are there and boy oh boy was I shitting bricks, excuse my french. The
clinical units experience for me was so much difficult. For starter I simply
didn’t know how to interact with the patients. I didn’t know what to expect,
what lines not to cross on term of communication and asking them questions. I
just felt out of place. Then as the weeks passed by I started to feel a bit
more comfortable and less “shy” to start up conversations with the patients.
I’d say more than anything it was frustrating not being able to help them more.
Mental health disorders are not just a quick fix with a simple pill and some
adjustments. I truly felt for the patients and more often then not I’d imagine
myself in their place. Whether it was a depressed patient, or a manic patient,
or simply an autistic patient. I can’t imagine a day in their shoes and thanks
to this rotation I will be more empathetic to the needs of these patients in
the future. More importantly I have learned to be less judgmental.
For my community experience I had to complete seven hours of
anonymous meetings. I attended narcotics anonymous, alcoholic anonymous, and
eating anonymous. These too were quite the experience and I'll just say that I
now have a great appreciation to the groups and the people who find the courage
and the dedication to attend and take that step to change their lives.
Addiction is not easy, addiction is real and as nurses we need to understand it
a little better in order to offer the proper care that those patients require.
I also attended day programs and inpatient treatment programs.
My overall psych rotation was phenomenal, the instructors were
amazing and very knowledgable, the lectures were always interesting, and as
you've already read there was never a dull moment in the clinical setting. I
honestly find myself falling in love with nursing even more after each rotation
:)
The one thing I love about my current job besides my coworkers are my patients. And I mean those that are 70+. It wasn’t always this way. I had to learn to love them by actually taking the time to sit with them and learn about them. More recently I have learned to see them with different eyes (Thanks Prof M.F.)
I’m in the Gero rotation now and being able to better understand the aging process and what things are not considered “normal part of aging” has really helped me gain better understanding of these patients and be more patient with them. Not that I wasn’t patient before but I’d always thought of my grandparents and family being in their position and how I’d like them to be treated given their situation. However, now I can put those comparisons aside and see them as who they are, individuals with lots of cool stories and wisdom.
That being said, today I took care of this 86 years old lady and she made an impact in my life. I’ve taken care of many patients her age and even older (100+ years) but there was something about her that made me feel different. Gracious. Thankful. Blessed. I was honestly having a rough day after my day yesterday and decided that maybe spending a little time talking to my patients today would help distract me a little. And it sure did. She went on and on and on about her life stories and things that she had done and dealt with. Then she said, “I could write a book about my life. Actually, somedays when I sit on the beach (she’s from down south and was in town visiting) I wish I could write about my life so that my grandkids and their grandkids can read my story”. And that’s when it hit me.
That’s why I blog.
Something that started simply as a way to document my wedding journey has turned into this amazing blog where I share a lot about my life as a married women, my husband, marriage, our children, my journey through nursing school, our travels and adventures, my frustrations, and even some personal things. There are days that I don’t blog often, there are days that I wonder if I should continue to write as I feel my content is not that of interest to many. Yet today I was also reminded of the many times I read other bloggers say that when you decide to start a blog to make sure that you stay true to yourself and always always write for you!
I don’t know how long this blog will be up for or or how often I’ll be able to write on it but as long as it’s focus continues to be on stories about my married life, I will do my very best to leave my future grandchildren something they can remember me by. Better yet, something that will allow them to know me. Like really know me and about me and what better way than through my own words :)
Thank you cute little lady for keeping me inspired.
I’m in the Gero rotation now and being able to better understand the aging process and what things are not considered “normal part of aging” has really helped me gain better understanding of these patients and be more patient with them. Not that I wasn’t patient before but I’d always thought of my grandparents and family being in their position and how I’d like them to be treated given their situation. However, now I can put those comparisons aside and see them as who they are, individuals with lots of cool stories and wisdom.
That being said, today I took care of this 86 years old lady and she made an impact in my life. I’ve taken care of many patients her age and even older (100+ years) but there was something about her that made me feel different. Gracious. Thankful. Blessed. I was honestly having a rough day after my day yesterday and decided that maybe spending a little time talking to my patients today would help distract me a little. And it sure did. She went on and on and on about her life stories and things that she had done and dealt with. Then she said, “I could write a book about my life. Actually, somedays when I sit on the beach (she’s from down south and was in town visiting) I wish I could write about my life so that my grandkids and their grandkids can read my story”. And that’s when it hit me.
That’s why I blog.
Something that started simply as a way to document my wedding journey has turned into this amazing blog where I share a lot about my life as a married women, my husband, marriage, our children, my journey through nursing school, our travels and adventures, my frustrations, and even some personal things. There are days that I don’t blog often, there are days that I wonder if I should continue to write as I feel my content is not that of interest to many. Yet today I was also reminded of the many times I read other bloggers say that when you decide to start a blog to make sure that you stay true to yourself and always always write for you!
I don’t know how long this blog will be up for or or how often I’ll be able to write on it but as long as it’s focus continues to be on stories about my married life, I will do my very best to leave my future grandchildren something they can remember me by. Better yet, something that will allow them to know me. Like really know me and about me and what better way than through my own words :)
Thank you cute little lady for keeping me inspired.
Last year was my 30th birthday and again we wanted to do something fun, exciting, and memorable. For hubby's 30th we traveled to Mexico and it was a very busy getaway so for my birthday we decided to travel to Jamaica but keep it more low key with the excursions. Although I feel we ended up with way too many pictures for such a low key getaway ;)
We stayed at the Bahia Principe Resort in Montego Bay for 5 nights and we booked an excursion to the Dunn's River Falls. That was really really fun! Our driver was hilarious and the hike up the river was pretty cool (and a little dangerous if I'd say so myself), nonetheless we did it and we have no regrets.
The details/breakdown:
The resort grounds was beautiful. We ended upgrading to an ocean view room which was awesome. The pool was pretty big and the beach was separated by sections but available to all resort guests. Every day we picked a different section to hang out in and we would normally start the day by going to the beach after breakfast and ending the day in the pool area. The beach water was so clear and warm, it was definitely the Caribbean :) The entertainment team was not like in previous resorts we've stayed at. I don't remember them doing any day activities, yet again the pool was so big and sort of wrapped around the resort that we were probably in the "quiet side of it". The nightly entertainment was pretty cool. I personally found that some of the male staff were inappropriate. One guy in particular kept us waiting forever for drinks, he took shots himself and had his own drink that he was sipping on while he made other drinks, and he would smack other girls booty (female staff) as they walked by him. My hubby and I just looked at each other, grabbed our drinks and moved to another section. Whoever he thought he was, I found his actions and behavior to be inappropriate. Friendlyness of the staff in Jamaica was definitely not the same as in Mexico. Jamaica reminded me a lot of the Dominican Republic in many ways.
The food was good. Very similar to what we are used to eating but with different spices. I have no complains about the food but also nothing that sticks out as being amazingly good. We did have Jamaican pattys and that was good, at least the one from the resort was. Oh and the curry chicken was pretty good. We ate it almost every day for lunch. The drinks were pretty good too. I'm not a big drinker so I was fine with the first good drink I had.
On our third day in Jamaica we traveled to Ocho Rios with this hilarious driver to climb up the Dunns River Falls. After arriving to our departure location we got on a boat that took us out to sea to snorkel. What an amazing experience. Now that water was super cold and although I as a little afraid of jumping in I ended up just joining the hubby. I've done snorkeling in Costa Rica which was my first time and a terrifying experience, as well as in DR on our Isla Saona excursion which we stopped in a natural pool to snorkel and the water there was waist deep and super clear. That was awesome.
Anyways, snorkeling in Jamaica was cool and I'm glad I decided to do it. YOLO. We then got back on the boat and ended up at the Falls. Ok, so this water was beyond cold, it was freezing. I don't think I'd make it all the way up by water but eventually my body got used to the water temperature. I loved all the pictures we were able to snap on our way up. On the way down we used the walk way. The stafff here also take pictures of you going up the Fall and try selling you a DVD at the end. We're suckers so we bought it lol.
On or ay back to the resort the boat had a party going on with Jamaican punch and pattys. The music was good. This was when reality hit. At least for me. There were a lot of young people in the boat, young like in their early/mid 20s and they were having the time of heir lives but I just kept on thinking "I can't dance like that, I can't behave like that. I'm a married woman and mother of two. This behavior is inappropriate for a woman my age", or is it? That thought really lingered in my head for quite awhile. Hubby and I did enjoy the boat ride back but in our own way.
Two more days in the resort before ending this getaway which consisted of more beach, pool, and eating. Every day we ended up sitting next o this other couple from Boston, unintentionally, and on our second to last day there we had lunch with them and hung out on the biggest part of the beach section. They were pretty cool, I wish we would had exchanged info to keep in touch. They were really funny.
At last, Jamaican was quite the experience . I liked it but I didn't love it like I thought I would. Will we ever go back? yea sure, maybe sometime in the future but is not like I'm already planning our next trip there. My favorite part of this trip was spending time with the hubs and making great memories.
It was a birthday for the record for sure. Just like we planned it :)
Hello 30s.
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