back!

finished. i am absolutely and one-hundred percent finished studying! last week, i sat down to one of the most important exams of my life - the nclex. i completed it. i walked out. and i took a breath of life. then i went to the farmer's market to buy some fresh flowers with mama. yep, i am back!

i haven't tasted sweet freedom in quite some time. for the past few months, studying had become the norm. exhaustion was no longer my antithesis, but rather my essence. it seemed as though life was put on hold as i crawled into my cave of heaping information. yes, it was temporary, but my oh my, was it dreadful!

so as i take my first steps outside my cave, outside the familiar and the much too predictable, i have to admit that it's a bit overwhelming. nursing student, no more. here i am, still trying to grasp the concept of "graduate" while my professional life beckons me forth. in less than one month, i will be a working woman. a registered nurse in labor and delivery at ucla. again, overwhelming! but so exciting!

a new life is ahead. one replete with the simple joys that teased me when i was a student. deadlines...gone. time constraints...non-existent. i am ready to be raw. to be enlivened. to rediscover my surroundings with a new lens. i am ready to indulge in my spirit of inquiry and live. live. live.