We had another lovely weekend here in Charlottesville! Mom and I are signed up to do the 3 Day 60 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research in DC this coming October, so we’ve started walking on the weekends. It’s a good way to catch up and soak up the budding Spring weather, and so far we’ve covered a tenth of the walk no problem…now on to the other 54 miles! While we’re still doing the shorter walks, Grace comes along and sniffs everything out, and as you’ll see below, takes herself for a little dip.
Drew had a long weekend in the hospital–he came home last night and started his Sunday night decompressing with, “Nursing is hard. Nursing is really, really hard. I chose a hard profession.” He takes pride in this, and I think he’s thinking forward to his proposed schedule of three long days on and four days off. Working in the CCU (cardiac intensive care) means that he works with one to two patients per shift, handling all of their needs, ranging from medications and monitors to bodily functions and he literally does not stop moving for just about 13 hours straight. In the year and a half that he’s been a student, this was the first time that he has ever expressed to me that he got his butt kicked a little, but it’s also one of the reasons that this program is so cool. In a standard nursing program, students never get to work as individuals with one mentor (their preceptor) teaching them along the way in the hospital prior to starting their job. For Drew, his entire experience has been oriented around working as an individual, having to rely on his studying and instincts from almost the first month of the program. This is just one of the reasons that the graduates from this specialized program are so highly coveted by hospitals; they graduate ready to walk on a hospital floor and quickly become leaders.
So, that’s some of the news from the Walton household, and here are some pictures from our walk:
Flux Capacitating 