Best Week Ever: Part II "This Route Terminates at RN Via London"

Growing up I was blessed with many opportunities to travel. Thanks to my father’s business I was able to go to England many times in the past, so this trip to London last week was exciting, but not an entirely new frontier. However, going with my beautiful friend Carolyn was new. I hadn’t spent this much time with her consistently before, despite our two decades of friendship. But I was very excited for our trip and anticipating an amazing time across the pond.

Our trip was made especially exciting because we had already bought tickets to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I at the midnight showing before we planned this trip, and to maximize our time abroad we bought plane tickets that meant going straight to the airport from the movie theater. I know, we’re crazy. But I still stand by our decision. Our lack of sleep that night meant I could sleep on the airplane with ease! If you know Carolyn or I at all, you know how irrationally excited we get about Harry Potter. Add going to where Harry Potter is from immediately after seeing one of the films for the first time and you’ve got our aforementioned insanity.

So starting off my best week ever is that film, which was an excellent time. And then we spent an entire day traveling. I mostly slept, and after about ten hours of flying and a six hour time loss, we got to Heathrow and still had to get to the tube station, buy our tickets and take the tube all the way to center London and then up to the absolute last stop on the Northern line and then call a cab to my friend’s house. All of this went off without a hitch thanks to my friend Suzy’s great directions. So we got there, settled in with some tea and soon headed to bed. The first day we allowed ourselves to sleep in, and went into central London to be tourists for a while and see as much of the beautiful city as our bodies could handle. It was fun to see London all ready for Christmas, and to just soak it all in. We had an enjoyable afternoon and evening, and then headed back to Suzy’s for some bangers and mash and Factor X. It was SO good to see my old friends again.

The next day, our plan was to go to a worship service at the Hillsong London church per suggestion by my friend, and then head to the British museum and back home for a traditional British roast dinner…mmm! Before we left I was informed that my mother posted something on facebook about needing to get a hold of me. So on the tube on our way to church I called her, trying to imagine what she could possibly need to talk to me about. Little did I know the news that awaited that phone call.

I passed the NCLEX.

I PASSED THE NCLEX!

This should not be that exciting of an event, but for me, after everything I went through the last six months, nay the last five and a half years, it was the best news I’ve ever gotten! I am now officially a registered nurse! I could have kissed the random guy sitting next to us on the tube I was so elated! Needless to say, that worship service was awesome, I was definitely ready to praise Jesus with everything I have. It felt so amazing to know that I trusted Him with this, and that He is so entirely faithful.

For the rest of the trip, I would turn to Carolyn every few minutes and whisper, “I’m a nurse!” She was very good about continually congratulating me on this and not getting annoyed, but I almost couldn’t believe it still. I told a few important people via fifty-cent text messages or facebook, and was overwhelmed by the responses. It felt amazing to see how many people had believed in me, and I was so happy to be able to share my excitement with them. My particular favorite response was from a friend texting me, “You were always a nurse in my mind!” I am in awe of how much everyone truly believed in me. I had multiple people say that I must have been that confident as well, but I honestly wasn’t. I had lost a lot of the hope in my own abilities, but it’s so comforting to see that my friends and family did not lose that hope.

Carolyn and I continued seeing and doing everything we had planned. Mostly museums, which were all excellent. We even got to see Les Misérables. We took a day trip to Oxford and visited all the Harry Potter, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and Alice in Wonderland sites. We even went to the swanky London Ice Bar.

It was a fantastic trip, made that much more fantastic by my new licensure. Soon we found ourselves on our plane home, to go straight to Thanksgiving dinner. My family greeted me with many congratulations, balloons, champagne and gifts of scrubs. It was a very grateful Thanksgiving for our family with a new baby, a pregnancy announcement, and my news. Happiness was all around.

It was my best week ever. And it continued into seeing most of my best friends over the weekend. I can’t get over how perfect my life feels right now. I’m working on getting a job, but I’m trusting God again that He will provide exactly what I need. For now, I get to keep celebrating and praising Him.

Best Week Ever: Part I

I have a tendency toward superlatives and extremes. I also have a history of ranking or rating things in my life. I've even decided my top three favorite meals and ranked them starting with my favorite, ice cream for breakfast, followed closely by ice cream for dinner and then ice cream for lunch.

I have recently decided to award this last week with the label of my "Best Week Ever". I may change my mind about that decision in the future because I am an admittedly fickle person, but let the record show that I have claimed this week as the best ever. For now at least.

To understand just why this week was so grand, one must have some perspective about how different it was than the weeks leading up to it. About a month ago, I was feeling slightly insane and completely worthless about my life. I was spending my time studying mostly, and attempting to continually convince myself that (with God's help) I can achieve my dreams. (Okay, just writing this now is starting to get me all choked up, and if you know me at all, you know I don't cry. This is an important quality of mine to keep in mind for the duration of this post.) After taking five years to graduate from nursing school, it took me almost four months from graduation to take my licensure exam. A few weeks later, I found out I failed. I took a break, reapplied, and after my application was approved again, registered to retake the exam.

After failing (aka getting a C-) in one of my classes in college, I learned a little about failure. Before I knew my results from my first NCLEX I was convinced that God would let me pass that test because I already learned what I could have from the experience of failing. After failing the NCLEX, I learned even more, as addressed in a previous post. But it still broke me. I was depressed and nearly hopeless. The only thing that got me through was relying on Jesus Christ. People who were around me know that during that time I was less myself and more of a Marsh-wiggle*. However, in an attempt to think positively, I planned a trip for two weeks after my second NCLEX to go to London for a week. This may seem random, or a bit crazy, but it made me feel more like myself again to do something spontaneous that would surely be amazing. It gave me more motivation toward my life in general.

Then, the Saturday before the week when I was to retake the NCLEX I nearly gave up. I had decided to spend the day studying, and found myself lying in a pile of books and study materials just crying for hours. I had lost any capability to study, and instead gave myself over to the despair that had been gnawing away at me for so long. It wasn't just about the test either. I felt alone and worthless about every aspect of my life. It was not good. But after a while I forced myself to open my desk drawer and take out my Bible. I read for a bit, and began to regain my perspective. I just kept reminding myself of how steadfast and faithful God is and that there is nothing my God cannot do. I realized that I was still unable to even look at nursing information and needed to regroup. So I went to spend the evening at my best friends' house having a bonfire and watching a World War II documentary. It worked like magic at getting my mind off my emotional unraveling and life questions enough for me to get back at it the next day after church.

By the test on Tuesday, I had only read through half of what I was hoping to review and didn't do any study questions (which everyone says is the best way to prepare for the NCLEX) but I did have a better outlook on life and despite my reservations about passing, I felt confident. Not confident that I could pass necessarily, just confidence in myself as a future nurse. Immediately after the exam I went to visit my friends down in Bloomington. We decided by the end of the week I spent down there that God apparently called me in to combat all of the stress and chaos that was happening down there. I won't worry you with the details, but it kind of felt like the lives of my friends down there were all falling apart, and I was sent down there to fix it all. And in my humble opinion, I did a decent job. It felt good to see that I could still be useful, but it was still a very stressful time for me. So I headed back home with a couple days to relax, pack and prepare for London.

*Marsh-wiggles are creatures from Narnia who are characterized by pessimistic and depressed outlooks on life. If you've read C. S. Lewis' The Silver Chair you may remember Puddleglum, a Marsh-wiggle who the children see as quite pessimistic, though he claims that for a Marsh-wiggle, he's considered too flighty, cheerful, and optimistic. Again, often how I feel.