This
semester has kept me so busy that I have hardly had time to stop and think
about how busy I am. Almost a month has
passed since I have blogged. I certainly
have commitments I should be attending to, but memories are slipping away and they
need to be recorded.
I have
almost reached the halfway point in the semester. Here is what a typical week looks like. I work Sunday night, Monday night, and
Tuesday night, and I sleep all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I take the kids to religious education
classes on Wednesday night, and then I come home and get started on
schoolwork. Each week I either have
class in Carrollton or I have an assignment due on Thursday. On the weeks I don’t physically have to go to
class, I do clinical on Thursdays and Fridays.
If I have class on Thursday, I just do clinical on Friday. The hours are long, but I am still enjoying
it. My preceptor is awesome, and I have also been
working with the nurse practitioner regularly.
I have liked that so much that I have been looking into master’s
programs, but after this week, I have decided to commit to at least a year off
school. I really miss my family when I
am gone or busy all the time, and I feel like it has been too much lately. Anyway, my project proposal and a case study
are due this Thursday AND I have class in Carrollton. I have Spring Break the week after that, and
I’m not allowed to do clinical during Spring Break, so I have signed up to work
9 out of 10 days. If we have a low
census, I’ll get called off some, but we sure could use the overtime pay.
We have
also had a lot going on on the home front recently. On February 20th, Matt’s precious grandmother
had a major stroke. She was 94 years old
and lived in a nursing home. Considering
her wishes, they did not take her to the hospital but decided to keep her as
comfortable as possible during her final days.
After several days of struggle and waiting, she passed away on February 24th. She was a beautiful Christian woman who
raised eight children. Her grandmother
was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian, and that is where the Pilgrim children get
their black hair and dark skin. I
thought the world of her. She had a
gentle and quiet spirit that I greatly admired.
Matt grew up next door to her,
and the boys were always close to their grandparents. Her husband died of cancer when Matt was
twelve. About 10 years ago, she had
asked Matt to speak at her funeral, and he honored that wish and did a fine
job.
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| Mother's Day 2012 |
The
weekend before that, Rosemary got her ears pierced. She mentioned it about a year ago but decided
to wait. I noticed in the last several
months, she would take my earrings out and put them back in and ask me if it
hurt. Then that Friday evening she said,
“Mom, could we go get my ears pierced?” Matt was gone to a friend’s house, but I knew
he would not object, so I loaded all four kids in the van and took them to eat
at El Zarape and then we went to the mall.
There was another little girl at Claire’s getting all the information
about ear piercing, and then she backed out.
Rosemary hopped right up in the chair and chose emerald studs. She declined the opportunity to hug the teddy
bear and did not even flinch when it happened.
She was so proud. Afterward we
ran to JC Penney to pick up a blouse for my Granny Chambers for her
birthday.
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| Photo credits to Will and Luke |
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| Rosemary with Autumn, the sweet Claire's associate who pierced her ears |
February
18th marked the 20th anniversary of mine and Matt’s first
date. I almost said we “celebrated” it,
but we didn’t. We didn’t acknowledge it
in any way. I was a bit bummed about
that. It falls closest to Valentine’s
weekend, and everyone else is busy on Valentine’s weekend, so we had no
babysitter. We just hung out at home and
did fondue with the kids like we always do.
I try not to make a big deal of such things, but it really does make me
deeply sad. If things like that don’t
matter, then what does? Matt had a tooth
extraction under general anesthesia the next morning. His dad drove him to the oral surgeon’s
office in Rome, and I met him there when I got off work. Afterward I took him by Steak n’ Shake to get
a milkshake. What I saw made that
feeling even worse. The movie theatre
where we saw a movie on our first date was being demolished. :-(
After seeing a movie, we weren’t quite ready to call it a night, so we
walked over to the Shoney’s and shared a pot of coffee. The Shoney’s was torn down years ago and the
Steak n’ Shake is in its place. The
Mexican Restaurant we went to before the movie is now a “home cookin’’”
restaurant that was shut down by the health department after its inspection. Logically I know it is unrelated, but it just
doesn’t make me feel good about our relationship. Is this what we’ve come to? Sometimes it feels like it.
I need
to end with something happy. I've depressed myself with this post. I went to
Wal-Mart to get my oil changed, and I bought myself a birdfeeder and a pole. Little things like this bring me so much
joy. :-)
