ADVENTURES IN NURSING

THE BACK STORY

So there I was, a poor single mother of two boys, working part-time cleaning restaurants and houses for people who could afford to pay for that kind of stuff, and supplementing my income with partial welfare benefits so that I could actually spend time with my kids.

I shared a house with my ex-sister-in-law, whom I shall call B, also a poor single mother of two boys, who was in the same situation as me.  We were best friends, our kids were cousins, and we were just trying to make decent lives for our families.  Life was hard, but we had fun, too - you know, we had that "misery loves company" vibe going on.

One day, our caseworker informed us that, per regulations, we had to either get full-time jobs or get our butts back to school with financial assistance from the state.  We both chose school.  Yes, two minimum-wage paychecks was better than nothing, but we had dreams of being actually self-supporting, and not having to share a house with someone else for the rest of our lives.  We checked out the nearest vo-tech school, and got all excited to see that they offered a two-year LPN program.  We applied, tested, interviewed, and were accepted. 

Say what???  Were we that smart?  Were we going to be nurses some day?  Who would watch the kids?  How could we work and attend school at the same time?  Who the hell did we think we were?  Had we lost our ever-lovin’ minds?  Quite possibly, yes, we had lost our minds, but we 

forged on.

Most of our family and friends were very supportive and excited about this new opportunity for us.  Some were not.  The man I was involved with at the time said something like, “Well, if you think you can make it ...”  Huh!  What the hell was that supposed to mean?  We didn’t last long after that.

I was 43 years old at the time.  I did the math.  I hadn’t been in school since I took a psychology class in California in 1977.  I graduated high school in 1967, for God’s sake, and I was NOT a stellar student then.  To say I was kind of nervous would be like saying The Rock had a few muscles.  Internally, I was freakin’ the hell out, but I like to think I disguised it well.

I had wanted to go to nursing school ever since I had my first kid.  I fretted and worried that some calamity would befall my son and, in my ignorance, I wouldn’t know how to save him.  Mostly though, I had finally reached a point where I just wanted to do something meaningful in my life.  I also wanted to be able to make a living wage for a change, after 20+ years of doing office work and other low-paying jobs.  I certainly couldn’t expect any help from ex-hubby in the form of child support.  Any money he made was for him, after all.

B and I spent the month before our first day of class psyching ourselves up for this new adventure.  “We could do this!  We are smart!  We are capable!  We are woman!” with the occasional, “Oh, my God, I’m so scared!” thrown in.  Well, at least we could be each other’s moral support.  Besides that, neither of us wanted to be the first to back out!

Next up:  Our first day of nursing school