kapachino

Category: personal

  • oh, is that how it’s done?

    I’m at school today for the last session of a review course I’m taking for the NCLEX. The room we’re in has two doors, and after a break I went to enter the second door, but it was locked from the outside. As I was standing there waiting for a friend to open it for me from inside, a girl I don’t know walked up behind me. She paused for a moment and then said to me in her most helpful tone, “Here’s the handle,” and she reached to open the door. She found it locked just as I had, and then understanding swept over her face.

    Internet, if I hope to pass the NCLEX, I certainly hope that by this point in my life I know that a) turning a handle is what opens a door, and b) how to recognize a handle when I see one.

  • Goodbye, Molly

    Dear Molly,

    I saw you for the last time last night. You looked the same as usual, except that your eyes seemed a little glazed, and you couldn’t get up to greet me. You tried, but due to a stroke, an aneurysm, or some other explanation, your back legs just wouldn’t work anymore. So I came to you.

    I remember when we got you. You were a stray, found by a friend who couldn’t keep you. According to the vet, you were about four or five years old at the time. I was 14 and I loved you immediately. You were smooth and soft and sweet. For years I tried to make you love me the best. I always thought that if I were stranded on a desert island and could only have one thing with me, I would pick you.

    Not long after, we took in another stray dog named Max. He was a wild one, but lovable. He was a bad influence on you. The two of you together liked to barrel through the front door any chance you got, then run around the neighborhood until we chased you down and trapped you. One morning when I was in high school I was the last person to leave in the morning. My ride to school arrived, I was loaded down with bags to carry, and I accidentally allowed you to escape. In my rush I let you go because you had always come back before.

    It wasn’t the best decision I ever made, because when I got home from school that day there was a message on our answering machine from an irate neighbor which said, “Your DOGS just KILLED my CAT…AND I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT!!!” I can still hear the words in my mind today. You and Max didn’t know you were hurting the poor cat, you just wanted to play. I thought we were going to have to get rid of you after that, but my dad was too much of a softie.

    Another time I came home from school and I was met with a broken window and huge pools of blood all over the carpet. I followed the trail up the stairs, all over the couch, to my brother’s bed where you were, weak and trembling. You had gotten so excited at something outside that you had broken through the window and cut an artery. It was a scary time, but we got you fixed up. And after a lot of scrubbing, the carpet looked somewhat clean as well.

    Max died a few years ago, and since then you have reverted to your calm, sweet self. Not that you weren’t always sweet even with him around, but when you were alone we could leave the front door open and you would come back whenever we called. My dad always said that just petting you lowered his blood pressure. You had a fun life with Max, and when he went I think part of you went too. Since then you liked to lie on your couch, lie on your bed, occasionally look out the window under the piano, sunbathe by the patio, and not much else.

    Despite your frail appearance, you kept hanging in there. We were even able to take you on a drive to South Carolina the Christmas before last, to meet your cousins. In recent days, when I brought Cleo over to visit it was like you didn’t know what to do with this new crazy little thing running around. I think part of you wanted to play like you used to, and you always seemed more active around her. But you didn’t quite have the energy or the stamina, and you would eventually just plop back down with a look of wisdom.

    Every time I visit my parents, which is often, I look forward to seeing your head pop up behind the sofa. I look forward to the thump thump of your tail when you see me. I even look forward to the tapping of your nails on the wooden floor as you move from your bed to your couch and back. I’m sure I will still look and listen for these things the next time I visit. It will take me some time to realize that you’re gone.

    You were with us for twelve years. You were much older than dogs of your size usually live. So when I got the call last night that you weren’t doing well, I wasn’t surprised, but I was deeply saddened. I knew I had to see you one more time. David drove me over to visit, and as soon as we got to the house, I curled up with you on your bed. I scratched your belly because it always did itch you, but now your paralyzed legs couldn’t scratch it. I kissed you behind your ears, which was always my favorite spot. I whispered for only you to hear, “I love you, Molly. You’re the best there ever was.” Then we left.

    This morning, my parents did the hardest thing for a pet owner to do, but it was time. They stayed with you while you went to sleep for the last time, and cried their eyes out. You were a part of our family. We all loved you very much.

    I already miss you. Goodbye, sweet girl.

    Love,
    Me

  • family at graduation

    I love this picture of my family, old and new! Also, graduation caps are just silly.

  • Getting Things Done

    Oh my gosh. Stuff is happening, people. For starters, I graduated. After a longish boring ceremony, they finally announced, “You may now move your tassels from the right to the left,” and a shiver went down my spine. It was a very special moment. Then we sang “The Eyes of Texas,” and it was over. Yay me!

    Only one more hurdle to jump before I am an official RN. I have to pass the NCLEX, the state board exam. I scheduled it for June 11 at 8 a.m. I am nervous, and really need to kick the studying up a notch. To that end I am taking another review course this week. In fact, it is going on right this moment. Perhaps I should be paying attention instead of blogging?

    Our save-the-date magnets arrived in the mail, and I do like them except that I wish the brown was darker. I spent some time addressing them last night and I hope to have them out by the end of the week. But what I am most excited about is that we actually booked our honeymoon to Kauai, airfare, hotel, car rental and all. So really, the most important part is taken care of, right?

  • Pinning

    The pinning ceremony is a nursing tradition. Nurses wear pins (usually on their name badge at work) to identify what school they graduated from. These pins were presented to us at the ceremony last night and we were able to choose someone to pin us. I chose David, as my husband-to-be.

    But before all of that happened, my parents, David, and I all arrived waaaay early because we didn’t know how the traffic would be. So we decided to get some picture-taking out of the way:

    And for some reason I find this very amusing: my mom trying to take a picture of David and me without realizing that the camera was set to record. Obviously I don’t have much patience for this, but David just laughs.

    Soon enough my brothers arrived. At this point we were also sharing the table with another family, a family much quieter than ours. As we were waiting for our food, we had the following conversation.

    ***

    Dad: So Uncle David is getting another Ridgeback. They got a good deal on it because it doesn’t have the show-quality ridge. They’re naming it Rigby.

    Brother David: Like Eleanor Rigby?

    Me: Who is Eleanor Rigby?

    Dad (shocked): Kat! David Cook just sang it on American Idol!

    Me: So she’s a singer?

    Dad (even more shocked): Kat! It’s a song by The Beatles!

    Brothers (in unison): AHHHH LOOK AT ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE

    Me: I have never heard of it. [This is true. I listened to it later.]

    Dad: I can’t believe this.

    Me: Listen, I am not a Beatles fan. I don’t dislike them, I will listen to them, but there are so many other things that I would rather hear.

    ***

    My future mother-in-law will be devastated when she reads this, but there it is. My confession.

    Continuing with the evening, we waited quite a long time for our food. In fact, David and I were finished with the whole pinning ordeal before we even took a bite. Ah, what the heck, here’s a little video of me being pinned.

    So by the time we got to eat we were all ravenous. We promptly cleaned our plates, and my brother Barry asked for seconds, which I don’t think was part of the deal. After he got his request, though, we discovered that we could all just go help ourselves to seconds, even though no one else was doing so. One woman that we were sitting with offered Barry her roll, but he politely declined. A minute or two later, this happened.

    ***

    Dad (to stranger woman): My wife would like your roll.

    Mom: Chris! (She hides her face in her hands.) I am SO embarrassed. You were not supposed to say that!

    Dad: What? You wanted it!

    Stranger woman: I did offer.

    ***

    I like how my family is the noisy one that eats all the food along with other people’s. I think we have more fun.

    So now I am pinned. Tonight, I graduate!