Almost to the finish line. . .

This is the last mile of the ultramarathon.  Muscles are quivering, dehydration and exhaustion are setting in.  Thoughts of crawling the last mile are running through my mind. . .  Well, maybe I am just mentally exhausted, stressed and ready for summer to begin -- but its sort of the same thing.  Sort of.  I just keep repeating this to myself:

I will fight for it.  I will not give up. I will reach my goal. 

...& absolutely nothing will stop me.

And so begins ATI week.  The week of standardized testing that has the power to stress me to the max, push me to the limit, and rock me to the core.  I never thought that these "little" tests could have so much power but they totally do!  Maternity is Tuesday and Mental Health is Thursday.  I am pretty sure I will not be breathing until I have passed them both.

Then onto finals.  I am not as worried about those, even though they are worth 25% of my grade.  The preparation for ATI will certainly help me out with finals and the information is really all in my head I just need to dig it up.  The brains ability to archive is amazing -- its the retrieval that concerns me!

I got the nicest email from my professor the other day.  We were all supposed to attend a childbirth education class for Maternity.  It was supposed to be an observation experience to see what new parents are learning in preparation for the birth of their child.  When the time finally came for me to attend my scheduled class I got a stomach virus and was home puking (amongst other things) so I was unable to attend.  I had to make up the assignment so I talked to my professor and we worked out an alternate project.  I submitted it to her via email and got the nicest reponse.  She told me she loved my take on the assignment and is actually considering changing a current assignment to be more like the assignment I did.  She also went on to tell me that my critical thinking goes beyond student nursing and even beyond some paid RNs.  Then she recommended that I consider a career in Maternal Child Health (a fancy name for Maternity).  It was just so nice to hear and really made my day!  :)  I spent the rest of the day smiling!

So now it is onto ATI.  Two little books (ATI has their own text) and two big tests and my stress level will be reduced to a rubble.  May the force be with me. . .

May 8th I am all done.  Then I can enjoy the summer with my family.  What a sweet reward for a semester of VERY hard work!