During my very, very, very long first day of in-person classes, the entire class cohort went out to lunch during the break between morning and afternoon classes. It was long because I had worked all night the night before and slept in the car while my husband drove me the 90 minutes to school. Made for a very long day. I should have taken a nap during the lunch break in my car, but I did not.
I felt it was important to go to lunch with the group, to be more open to learning more about these people. We are going to be together for our major classes after all. Even if some of us are on three-year tracks, and others on the 4-year track, our foundation classes will be the same.
During lunch, which was yummy, (the group had chosen a sushi restaurant, and I went along, knowing there would be something for me to eat that was not sushi; there was a tofu bento box), all the phones came out and we exchanged numbers. So we could commiserate and keep each other up to date with tips. and cheerleading as necessary.
Note to self, there is always a group mom. Yeah, we are all in our 30s, 40s, and 50s, but there will always be someone who is watching out for us. Bless her.
The group text has been remarkably useful. It has only been a week and there have been collaboration texts, memes, and confabbing on the sometimes remarkably vague instructions. And a picture of my cat sleeping on the distraction pillow I put on the dining room table.
To my surprise, the text stream has not devolved into more basic elementary or high school taunts and gatekeeping. I guess we all had to grow up sometime. And, really, is a group of nurses really that kind of people?
Strike that. I’ll rephrase, is a group of nurses who are actively educating themselves for the good of all nurses really that kind of people? No, no they are not. I have never felt as embraced by a class, or an institution of higher learning before. It is amazing. A bit bewildering, but amazing.
Today the text stream was about reading for next week’s theory class and how one article ties into the last set of articles in our philosophy class. Well played, curriculum, well played.
I already know my role in the texts. I will send a funny meme, no more than once a week, as a stress reliever. I can have restraint sometimes. And I only mentioned this blog once, to one member in her personal text. Again, restraint.
Dispatches from the Evening Shift 