APAP

Dear expired acetaminophen tablets,

I certainly hope you are not the last thing I consume before an untimely and utterly tragic death.

Love, Liz

Hospitals and College Campuses

There are two places on earth I feel most comfortable: the campus of a university and the inside of a hospital. I realized this today as I walked into the student union building after getting some assistance with tuition for this, my 4^th degree. You could call me a perpetual student, I guess, but not in the sense that I’m perpetually going to school since I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I know, more or less, what I want to do and school is a means of helping me achieve my goals.

Other than still being single and still in school, 5 years ago, this was more or less my life plan, although back then, I sort of thought I’d have kids by now. I always thought, for some reason, that I’d have kids when I turned 28. But since that seems to be unlikely given the fact that I turn 29 in 5 months, I’ll continue with my previous thought.

As I walked across campus, I wished it were biking season. The air is inverted this time of year in Utah and breathing outside is a little bit like dying if you’re being highly melodramatic as I am sometimes wont to do. But as a student whipped by me on a long board (or maybe a skateboard, I guess), I got to thinking about riding a bike across campus, any campus really, at the beginning of fall semester. For those of us who are students, the years start in August and are divided into 2 to 4 month blocks. Fall signals new beginnings much in the way that January signals resolutions and makes it difficult to find a spot in yoga class for the rest of the world.

But I thought today as I walked through the inverted air how much I love that beginning: the beginning of learning. The air is clean. The campus is full of energy. My bike is in tiptop shape after a summer of being used almost daily. And it dawned on me then that I guess I’m doing the right thing. I spend half my life learning: on a campus and in a hospital. I spend the other half of it working: in a hospital. And a third of it teaching: in a hospital. Do you see where I’m going with this? The two places I feel most comfortable are the same two places I spend so much of my time.

So, as I embark on yet another semester, my 26^th semester of college, if you can believe it, I resolve to spend more time biking across campuses, both hospital and otherwise. Lots of time learning. Lots of time teaching. And enough time away to balance out the crazy.

You Know You're A Nurse When (part 19)

Somebody mentions "head tilt" in reference to a selfie, and all you can think of is "head tilt, chin lift."

Things I Shouldn't Wear to Class

Running shoes and skinny jeans? You better believe I rocked this look today, which was especially great when I ran into that cute rock-climbing boy on campus, hypothetically. #RockingBody

The Upside of Breakups

Sometimes when we get caught up in how sad breakups are, I think we are forgetting one major thing:
Mixtapes.

Things I Sometimes Say in Real Life

"On a scale of one to awesome, I'm pretty great."

Confident or ridiculous? You decide. 

Things I Say to Boys Before Blind Dates

How tall are you? It helps me make good shoe choices.