Enriched

Okay, so I removed my rant about my stupid neighbors. I vented and it's over! I will remain patient and be the bigger person. You're welcome world.

Last night was a very fun evening. I really wish I could have gotten some hard-core studying in, but so life goes. Back in May, I bought my mother-in-law, sister-in-law and (step-)Mom (whom I consider to be a true mother figure, step or otherwise) tickets to a basic wine tasting course. We've been trying and trying to make the time and hadn't been able to till now! So studying be damned, sometimes life is a little more important :)

I picked everyone op, we drove the hour out to the beautiful Texas Hill Country and arrived at this beautiful place that was a lot more modern looking than I expected. I'm not really sure what I expected, but apparently this wasn't it! There was a neighboring ranch with ponies, llamas, cattle and donkeys just hanging out and observing people. It was really cute.

The wine tasting was a lot of fun and veryyy tasty. They taught what the different aspects of the wine meant. Like the opacity indicates age or slurping can actually help you identify differing, complex notes. The lady directing the class did a great job of speaking slow enough where we all really got what she was saying, but not so slow it was boring. It was a fun, friendly atmosphere.

After the tasting we sat outside for just a bit, went over to see the animals and chatted. Then headed to a DELISH local Italian restaurant.  You never know what could unfold when you bring two different families together, but it went off without a hitch and a fun time was had by all.

After I dropped off my mother- and sister-in-law, I went back to my Mom's and had coffee. My sisters weren't there and my brother was off in his lair doing his own thing, so I got some unusual one-on-one (well, one-on-two) time with my parents. It was so nice. I really appreciated the time. We talked about what was going on in our lives, I talked about school, my dad talked about his business. We talked religion and politics in a philosophical way, which I thoroughly enjoy. We talked about the past, present and future and I really appreciated it.

It made me very aware of how time flies and how the time we get with each other really is very precious! Even though I almost have to check out of life for these next two years of nursing school, I can't check out completely. And I have to be aware of what I'm actually sacrificing and really try not to sacrifice too much. Balance is important.

God, I can't wait till I'm done with this school chapter. And I get to have a life! And do normal people things. Cannot. Freaking. Wait.

Sigh. But I know that time will come.

Anyways, we stayed up till 2am talking and laughing. I got home not too long after, showered and hit the hay.

And today... Well, I have had a very productive day today... Especially in light of the fact that I have clinical paperwork to do and seven chapters to read. Um, NOT. :D

I slept in until 10am. Woops... Spent nearly an hour eating breakfast and watching two episodes of How I Met Your Mother. Then top-to-bottom sanitized, cleaned and re-organized the fridge for an hour. Then went on the computer and watched funny pet videos for an hour and then I watched/cried about animal rescue videos for an hour.

On a totally off topic branching of this post:

Animals really do touch my heart.
I want to save them all.
The fact that some animals are born and suffer their whole lives just hurts my soul.
I just can't stand it sometimes.
Helping them is probably the most important, special goal in my life.

To me, getting through nursing school is what will enable me to help these animals.
Once I am an RN and have a job and we can get financially stable,
options open up. You have the money and the resources and time to actually make a difference.
It will still be hard, but even if I can only help one dog or cat at a time, saving one life is worth all of the struggle.

Unfortunately in the mean time, with a 70 hour school week between class, studying and clinicals, I don't get to help much. But I do what I can. Help find homes. Try to donate here and there, even if it's only a little time or a little money. But it's all that I can give.

And one day, maybe I'll reach my dreams of having my own rescue. And maybe, if I'm really lucky, I can be an advocate politically for them too.






Anyways, I'm pretty sure this was by far my most disjointed, strange and wandering post yet. And I'm almost sorry, but I'm glad that I'm putting all of this stuff down uninhibited. I like being able to look back. Also, I like to use these entries as a kind of therapy. I can't really understand why writing with no intention for others to read it makes me feel better, but it really does.