Life happens

Life happens... all the time.

One of the things that makes school so difficult for me lately is that life just keeps happening. It would be nice if all the family and friends that I left behind when I moved to NC could just pause. This past semester I have seen that real life doesn't work that way.

My family is the most important thing to me. I truly believe that I am who I am because of them. Their support and love means the world to me and I worry about them.

My dad had to have his gallbladder taken out (the 6 hours until we knew a diagnosis, we're great by the way), my so's grandmother passed away, and I am planning on getting married in a month.

All of these things are happening along with a job-like PA program. Several of my classmates have babies due this month. I cannot imagine how they are going to balance their lives with school.

Every single person in my class has their own lives, families and friends that they have had to sacrifice time for to be successful in school. But eventually those things still come crashing in to tell you that they are important! And that you need to pay attention to them.

I am very lucky to have a supportive family! I think it also helps that I moved away for school. I know that seems counterintuitive because having a close family can give you a good support system, but in my case I never have to choose between going to dinner with my dad or studying. I never have to miss my nephew's baseball game because I live 9 hours away.

I luckily still have a great support system in B-casey, my fiancee. He is a resident at UNC and therefore understands completely when I make the choice to study before anything else. He has already gone through this and knows the choices that have to be made in order to pass the class.

This does not mean that my family isn't important to me, if someone was sick and I needed to be there. I would fly home in an instant and tell school to just send me the lectures for the day and I'd catch up when I can.
For now though I can usually get away with daily text messages, calls while I'm on the bus to and from school, facebooking, and sending out messages while I'm winding down in the evenings and finished with studying.