Put a fork in me, I'm DONE!

When I got to school this morning, the song playing on the local radio station was "Alive" by Pearl Jam. A good omen, people. Given as nervous as I was about taking my TEAS exam later in the day (the entrance exam for the nursing program I'm trying to get into), knowing I could recite "Oh, I'm still alive" over and over would prove to me that no matter what happens, it ain't gonna kill me. Whatever happens will happen.

That surely didn't stop me from being completely and totally freaked out.

Case in point:

Turn on our PC this morning and find a virus message that I thought I'd gotten rid of weeks ago. TOTAL FREAKOUT

Get to the preschool and note that today isn't, in fact, Pajama Day. Bryce is the only 4-year-old dressed in PJs. FREAK OUT A LITTLE

Look down at the cell phone and note the battery doesn't have enough juice to carry me over into the afternoon. TOTAL FREAKOUT

Get to school, finish my class, and note that there is frozen precipitation falling from the sky. TOTAL FREAKOUT (The drive to the school was 30+ minutes away.)

Try to call the Nursing Department to see if the test has been cancelled due to the weather. Nobody's answering. Voicemail. TOTAL FREAKOUT

Finally get in touch with someone who then says that, yes, the test is on (which means I'll have to make the drive AND freak out due to nerves and actually taking the test). TOTAL FREAKOUT

See how today has been in terms of nerves?

So I finish up my class at the campus closer to my house, start to leave the building, realize my colon wishes to clean house before I exit, hit the ladies' room, get in the car, turn on the ignition...

AND PEARL JAM IS PLAYING ON THE LOCAL RADIO STATION AGAIN!!!!

Totally a good omen!

I start driving, plug in my mp3 player and listen to EV sing "Rise" and "Guaranteed" as I'm driving to put me in the right frame of mind.

I get to the school, find the room, settle down, and meet up with a classmate of mine.

As it turns out the 3 of us sitting in the same row of computers are all young moms, all have a 24 on our ACT, and all are nervous as you-know-what. One of the girls has 2 kids, 4 and 7 years old, as well. Seems we're a pretty common breed - the stay/work-at-home moms who are looking to find a career now that their babies are getting into school, themselves. I dig it. It's nice to have folks like me going for that same goal.

So, anyway, I log in and get going. Reading is first, then math.

All I can say is this - I AM SO GLAD I SPENT THE TIME TO STUDY THAT MATH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I haven't taken a math class in 16+ years. I HAD to refresh my memory and teach myself quite a bit.

What's even nuttier is the fact that I actually scored HIGHER on the math portion than the reading! That's crazy!

Our nursing program gives points for how you score, and those overall points will determine how you rank overall in the competitive process of the selection of students accepted for that semester.

In order for you to get the highest number of points, you have to meet or exceed the national average on the TEAS exam.

For the reading portion, the national mean was 85.7%. I scored 90%. *by the skin of my teeth, in my opinion!*

For the math portion, the national mean was 66.8%. I scored 80%.



With a grin from ear to ear, I walked outside to find cotton-ball-sized snow falling from the sky and a slushy ground. With a 45+ minute drive home, I was NOT excited, but it didn't deter me from feeling a sense of accomplishment and a huge sense of RELIEF now that it was over.

White-knuckled and tense, I drove home in the blowing snow and newly-white-again scenery around me... grinning occasionally to myself that it was finally over.



So, for now, it's simply a wait-and-see process. I've either done it, or I haven't.

Out of 200 or 300 applicants, about 80-ish will be accepted.

If it happens, it was meant to be... a blessing.


And if it doesn't? Oh, I'm still alive. ;)