Happy Hour

This week I started my very first job as Nurse Stress Case.

I am working for a pediatrician, and have only worked two days so far, but I absolutely love the work.  It is so exactly what I wanted to do as an LVN, and feel so incredibly fortunate to get to work somewhere I enjoy.  Unfortunately there are not many options for LVNs (especially in Orange County), and to get to work in a beautiful office (with an ocean view, I might add) with children is so great!

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about people I went to school with, and what they’re doing now.  I keep in touch with a few of them, but to be quite honest, I didn’t make a whole lot of friends during school.  I went into the program for a reason (to get my license), and tried to put on blinders the majority of the time.  I am curious mainly in a statistical fashion, in that I wonder who all has taken their NCLEX and passed, who has a job, who is struggling, who is doing something the love, etc. more than anything.  There were a few people I genuinely connected with at The School That Won’t Be Named, but no one as much as my dear friend, Nurse Sarcasm.

(I was lucky enough to be graced with a visit from Nurse S this week, in fact!  We drove around Orange County [where Nurse S commented that she felt like she was “in a different country”] and had lunch at a fabulous restaurant in the heart of the OC Housewives.)

I’d like to say that when I go into the RN program I will approach it differently – be a social butterfly and leave with lots of friends that I adore as much as I adore Nurse Sarcasm.  But I don’t know that that will be the case to be honest.  The majority of nursing students are female, and groups of females (especially ones competing for recognition and praise) are so catty, that it is often easier just to alienate yourself.  I am not excluding myself from this generalization by any means – anyone who knows me knows I have my moments.  I just know myself and I know the effort I need to put in to get through these grueling nursing programs cannot be bogged down by fighting and petty drama.  I also graduated high school 5 years ago, and don’t like feeling like I’m back there again (except for when I’m surrounded by my friends from high school – love that feeling).

This what I’m thinking about during Happy Hour, sipping on watered down Pepsi (PS don’t judge me – I’m a total Coke girl).