the light at the end of the tunnel is SO BRIGHT!

I am totally swamped and overwhelmed with how busy life is, but I just have to stop and acknowledge the massive step forward in our lives that took place this last Saturday. JOHN GRADUATED! (Oh, and I have to mention Hayden's graduation outfit as well, she was SO CUTE! and amazingly enough, she kept the "cap" on for quite a long time before pulling the thing off :)



To say I am proud, is an understatement, I can't believe it's finally here. You know when we originally talked about this, years ago, we had no idea what a sacrifice, time commitment and stress this undertaking would be. As John has talked to others in the field, and out of it, they had warned him that it was one of the hardest masters programs out there. Because although this is a Nurse Anesthesia masters degree, he has learned and had course work just the same as an Anesthesiologist (a dr. degree). He tests on the same material, learns from the same books, etc... the big difference being that his course work is crunched down into 28 months and an Anesthesiologist has 8 years of medical school and residency. But, John will do the same cases and the same work as an Anesthesiologist.

Anyway, it has been a really challenging 2 1/2 years. There have been days where there is so much piled on John's plate academically, as well as working 30-40 hour weeks (not to mention all the medical issues we have had with Hayden) that the emotional toll was almost too much to bear. But, he did it and I think we both agree that we're so glad we never have to go through THAT again! :)



One of the other things to mention is that last week John's class got together for a fancy dinner and graduation. There were several speakers talking about all the hardships and challenges they've had and overcome. There were also several awards given. At the end of the program several students gave out "silly awards" to several classmates and John got an award too. He recieved the "Mr Nice Guy" award and they talked about how everyone voted and said that John always was the one who opened the doors for everyone and smiled "good morning" and was genuine. It was nice, he IS a "nice guy" and I love that he's a nice guy to everyone that he meets.

Here are some pictures of John and some of the friends and professors that he's admired during his program.



This is Lewis, Melanie and John.



This is John and Lewis with their favorite professor, Howard. Howard was the program director when they started the program and then he retired halfway through the program, much to everyone's sadness. Howard was a tremendous influence on John and turned into a great friend as well as mentor.