Feline Friends

The end of August brought the beginning of a new school year and beginning of new challenges in my life. I was so excited to get back on campus and get a break from work and not “having a life.” Boy, was I in for a surprise.

I soon realized that life was not going to be a piece of cake as I had hoped. I mean, I didn’t expect this semester at college to be a walk in the breeze, but I didn’t expect it to be so draining either. I thought that I was past the nights with only a few hours of sleep and not having any time for myself or the little things that I wanted or needed to get done. My schedule went a little something like this:
Awake up: 3am or 3:30am
Work or clinical at 6am
Class 8:20am
Chapel 9:20am
Class 10:20am
Lunch 11:10am
Work 11:45am
Class 12:20pm
Work 1:15pm
Class 2:30pm
Soccer practice 3:30pm
Work 4:30-7:30pm
Study until midnight

And then I would start all over again. Most Saturdays I couldn’t even let my body recover because they were consumed with away soccer games, and then even Sundays, I would be in Rockford, IL ministering at my extension church all day. I am fully convinced that my 60-80 hour work weeks during the summer prepared me for this semester at school.

But many things were also different from this summer. One was that I got to go to class and dress up in clothes of my choice. As silly and shallow as that may sound, you would never believe how very dull and monotonous it can get to always be wearing a uniform. For the nursing home it was scrubs, Hannaford, a red polo and khakis, and Moody’s, a white shirt, khakis, and a green apron. You have no idea how much I wanted to wear the other clothes that I had in my closet. Going to school allowed me to do that.

Ten times better than that was that I was able to see and hang out with my friends. The ice cream social after the first day was a great time of catching up with old friends and making some new ones. Best of all was that I was able to see my best friend, Lynnae, and to talk to her and hang out with her like I hadn’t been able to this summer. Of course, there were those occasions when I was able to go bowling with my friends or more often than that, to go to Abby’s apartment to watch movies and have a good time. So despite the fact that my schedule was just as busy as it was this summer, it was accompanied by good friends and companionship which can make all the difference in the world.