I Made It!

     So it's finally happened. The day towards which I had been working so hard arrived and around the middle of last May, I finally got pinned and marched - I graduated from nursing school! I was definitely thrilled and felt such a big relief to learn that I had passed our final exam. Although I did not get the final grade I was hoping for, suffice it to say that I passed and somehow got to stay just within the honor roll.

     It's now been about a month and a half since that wonderful day. We had a breakfast practice for the pinning ceremony to be held later that same day. It was fun and kind of relaxed that morning while we were practicing, but right after that was a whole other story! I wasn't planning on getting my hair done at first, but when I realized that just braiding my hair would not cut it I rushed to get an appointment at the salon and thank goodness I was able to get one. I almost messed up the timing though, because by the time my hair was done I had just enough time to get home and change into my nursing whites. Thankfully the school was close by so we still got there with enough time to spare for final touches.

     The actual ceremony had me feeling all these mixed emotions - happiness, nervousness, sadness and excitement. It was funny to see some of my batchmates who were also feeling the same way, yet trying to put a lid on the tears that threatened to ruin our make up before we could even get on stage. The entire ceremony was beautiful with its share of bloopers that made it all the more memorable and uniquely ours. And the aftermath - it was mayhem! But a nice kind of mayhem...sigh....

     All this would not have been possible if not for support and encouragement from a lot of people. Thank you to my entire family, wonderful professors, hard working nursing department support personnel, friends and classmates. You all gave me the tools I needed to succeed what is probably the most challenging thing I had ever done, and for that I am deeply grateful. Most of all I thank God for blessing me with all these opportunities and for guiding me through it all. I promise to keep trying my best now that this chapter has finished and a new one is beginning. There are new things on my to do  list (there's still that bachelors degree in nursing), and I'm raring to get started on fulfilling them.

© Margj Castillo, Between You and Me, 2010 - Present.