A Key....

"Keys open doors. That is the purpose of a key. If you loose a key, you cannot unlock a door. You can have a beautiful Mercedes sitting in front of your house with a title that has your name on it and it does you no good until you have the key...." (Importance of Education, 2001)

That was an exert from a paper I wrote in 8th grade, I think. We had to write about why furthering our education is important. I came upon this paper just the other day. I remember writing it. I remember how that analogy came to me and stuck with me through out the remainder of high school and then on to college. I think reading it again really struck a cord with me, because this next week is the last week of my undergrad years...I will have my Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN). I already have letters behind my name (J Loveland, RN) but now I will have 3 more letters. I am not writing about this to brag, I just feel so passionate about the importance of education. I want my posterity (hopefully you guys will take time to read this some day) to know how important getting education is. We have been commanded by prophets to gain knowledge and education. Your faith, family and knowledge are the ONLY things you will take with you in the next life. My opinion is that as your knowledge grows, your faith expands and this leads to being with your family for eternity, so this is of ETERNAL importance.

Going back to the key analogy, the thought that prompted me to write about this was this: "Ryan and I are going to have our bachelors...Wow, what are we going to do? We could...

• Move to ANY major city in the country and have some kind of job
• Go on with MORE school right now( Nurse anesthestist, nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, medical law, nursing administration, business administration, education...)
• Join the military now
• Do nothing and just have fun and enjoy the money we make
• Apply for things like the Peace Corp, or other neat organizations

The list goes on. Do you guys see what I mean? The possibilities go on and on and I know that there are so many I don't even know about. It is overwhelming but it is amazing to think that right now Ryan and I have ENDLESS amount of doors that are waiting for us to unlock and explore. The ONLY reason we can do that is because we earned the key by going through blood, sweat and tears for our bloody degree!!!

I want you guys to understand that, too. Education is hard. You have to push your mind and stamina past what is comfortable. I have heard people say, "College, just wasn't for me." Well, that is fine and maybe it wasn't but, honestly, I never really felt like it was for me, either. It was HARD! The first year of college I had to get a PERFECT GPA to get into nursing school. I would fall asleep on my knees pleading and begging my Heavenly Father that I could pass the class and promising that I would be the best nurse out there if I could just get into nursing school. Once I got into nursing school, it was literally BLOOD, SWEAT and TEARS (the blood part was from all the practice IV's and shots ;) I remember there were times after Ryan and I got married, after a horrible day of clinicals we would just be sitting on our love sac holding each other and crying our eyes out. So I can say, college definitely was NOT for me, and I think the VAST MAJORITY of the people going to college feel that way, but you do it anyways you know? I know that the only way both Ryan and I got through school was through the blessings of our Heavenly Father and his merciful guidance.

This week is my last "finals" week for awhile (I don't plan on going on with my doctorates until my kids are all in school). The other night I was writing this big 20 page research paper. I got up to go get some energy (i.e. cookies) and I came back and just started hysterically laughing. My work area ( I always do homework on the couch...don't ask me why, I just do) looked ridiculous! Below are a few pictures of my mad organization that occurs when writing papers:

Those are PILES of nursing articles and papers and notes. Oh man, you just have to love finals week!

The stack of papers was so heavy it was making the cushion fall off....

I was starting to get a little nostalgic when thinking about my last week of finals. It hit me last night at work when I realized my schedule got messed up and I work almost everyday of finals and I thought about everything I had to do by Thursday when we leave for Nauvoo and that good old time feeling of the stress and fear of finals hit. I think I feel the most alive during finals. Every year something happens to make it more stressful then it needs to be, and every semester it feels like it is so IMPOSSIBLE to finish, but ever semester it gets done, and it feels so good. I am not going to lie though, I cannot wait until next Sunday morning because all of this and those three new letters ( BSN) will be behind me!