from white coat to cap and gown

Where did the time go? It seems like just yesterday we were at my school's white coat ceremony - the "initiation" to any school in the medical profession. I was a sooooo excited to be starting school, extremely nervous I wouldn't make it through, I had no idea what was ahead of me, what to expect and an emotional wreck to be 4 hours away from the love of my life in Georgetown.

Now, 3 years later, looking back shows an unbelievable journey I could never have imagined would all come to fruition in such a short period of time.

It is unreal that we managed to finish a 4 year PharmD in only 3 years. No summers off, many of the breaks were only mini-mental breakdowns on my own time, the panic, the staying up all night studying and sleeping during the day. Then, of course we were off, later, going wild with our friends, just trying toforget about the professors at school and whatever they were planning to pull on us the next week to kill our hearts and souls.

We had fun together, we had high school-esque drama, we had some professional moments and manymanymany unprofessional moments... there were promises made, some promises kept and that saying "what happens in pharmacy school, stays in pharmacy school" was a great slogan but not always the case. Some of us will take our secrets to the grave though =)

As if those 3 years weren't jam-packed challenging enough, I got to keep up with my old faithful friends when I was driving back and forth from VA to Lexington/Georgetown to see every possible baseball game of Nick's that I could make it to, I got to make new lifelong friends through school, got engaged, planned a big ol' wedding, actually got married (!), lived in 2 different apartments and now bought a house to live in with my husband.

That same guy that I started the 3 years of pharmacy school with as my "boyfriend", became my "fiancee" in my second year, and my "husband" in the third year. To me, this man and our relationship has been the real ride with everything else, only the obstacles. We have come so far.

Tomorrow, I will be going to my LAST DAY OF ROTATIONS EVER. That's it. My last year is over. I could laugh/cry/scream but instead, I'm going to keep looking onto this big bright future my husband and I have set before us. It's quite the climb to get to where we want to go and I am pumped to have him by my side for the journey. We have been so lucky, so blessed, so many prayers have been answered... we will continue to Praise Him for His guidance and strive to live the life He brings us to.

In the next few weeks, I'll get to start my job at CVS (actually pulling in a paycheck for the hours, that's a new one!), return to school for a review for the boards and a graduation luau thrown in our honor, and then, on May 16th, we will graduate. I can't wait to spend these last sweet moments with myfriends before we all spread out, drug-dealing, all across these United States=)

Bittersweet has been the star reoccuring emotion of late in my little life. It is one that catches my breath, chokes me up and ends with me smiling through tears. It seems to be one that rears its little head right as I'm taking another step into adulthood and turn back to reminisce in my childhood that I never wanted to leave.

It is painful and exciting.

It's life and I'm loving it.