Time for Fun

I'm now two weeks away from completing the second semester of the nursing program.  Wow, time has gone by so fast (actually, it hasn't, sad to say!  I'm attempting to delude myself).  I 'm eagerly anticipating my summer break of approximately 2 1/2 months.   So eagerly, in fact, that I decided I would start early.  Approximately a month ago, I bought myself a tandem kayak, complete with foot pedals for the athletically challenged.  It's the best thing I've done in a long time.  I've gone out several times in the local harbor with both my husband and my mom, and we all love it.  My last outing with my mom even included a zen-like experience of being in the midst of feeding dolphins.  They didn't mind us, just went on about their business as we watched in awe and listened as they surfaced to breathe.  What makes kayaking especially wonderful is that it's not just physical, not just spiritual, but it is also a way to reconnect with loved ones that I miss.  When I'm on the water,  I am connected to my father, my grandfather, and years of happy memories sailing.  I have happy childhood memories of sailing past buoys afloat with lounging sea lions, now I am building new memories of kayaking past them with my husband.  This sense of reconnection, of weaving together the past with the present is priceless.  My husband will never know my father, who would have been 66 years old yesterday.   He has been gone for nearly a decade, as impossible as that seems.  I celebrate his life when I am kayaking.  I remember him as I build new memories.  Happy birthday, dad.  Miss you.

At school we are covering our last unit of the semester-- Neuro.  It's especially compelling because a neurological disorder took my dad from me (and my mom's dad from her).  This is undoubtedly the most confounding unit we've covered, but also the most riveting.   Last week I spent two days in the Neuro ICU, observing care there.  I believe I have found another potential niche for myself.  Good news!