Happy Nurses Week!

Writing this post reminds me of what I was doing at this time last year.. I was getting ready to FINALLY graduate with my BSN.  I was back in Mount Pleasant, Iowa, hanging out with these amazing people:

I learned a lot in Iowa.  And not just about nursing.. IWC is where I met my roomie:

It's where my friendship with Thomas commenced in the good ol Nemitz Suites:

I had a lot of good times, including Christmas sweater bar crawls:

Absurd amounts of homework:

Traveling to Greece:

Getting pinned and graduating:

But, most of all I will miss the amazing friendships that I developed with an amazing group of girls.. plus a Thomas or two.  I can't believe last year we were getting sick to our stomachs right before our finals and ATIs.. we were stressed about passing the NCLEX, finding jobs, and figuring out our next steps.  Now some are married, some have babies, some have moved... but we're all nurses!  This last year of being an RN has made all that stress worth it.

Things about my IWC ladies that I will always miss:  corny mac, snuggles with the roomie, trips to the alleys, 16 hours clinicals an hour and a half away, Katie throwing up in the hallway after class one fine morning, the Maccomb bar crawl where Katie cleared the dance floor, my predictable classroom attire (green sweater, orange sweater, grey sweater, different green sweater, and then back to the beginning), photos in front of Christmas trees, trips to FUN CITY, Wesleyan's bday in Iowa City, the many ridiculous clinical experiences, and a helium-filled balloon or too.

Miss you ladies, hope you are all well. 

So thank a nurse you know sometime this week... because every day they save lives, hold the hands of people when they're dying and family cannot be there, are with people during their most vulnerable and embarrassing moments, are there for the occasional 'come to Jesus' meeting when a reality check is necessary, advocate for their patients, and deal with some poopy, poopy situations... and that's just another day at work.