I was talking to my tutor today about the opportunities that are available to me now that I've placed my key in the door to nursing, so to speak.

I have to say that from where I stand right now, they seem endless.

LPN. RN.  Nurse Practitioner. Midwife.  Nurse Educator. 

In a hospital.  In a nursing home.  A rehabilitation center.  For a hospice.  In a birthing center.  In people's homes. 

USA.  UK.  Central America.  South America.  Africa.  Europe.  Autralia.  Asia.

Anywhere in the world, really.

This class that I'm taking....this is NOT going to be the end of my education.  In fact, this is just the beginning.  I have plans to apply for an LPN program next fall - even though the college that offers the program is 30 miles away from where I live.  When I've done that, I want to apply for the RN program at the college I attend now.

And, when I've qualified, I want to go and work on a volunteer basis in an inpoverished country.  I've dreamt of doing that for many years, but never had the qualifications or financial means necessary to do it.  It's a strange dream to have, isn't it?  Wanting to put yourself in a country without air conditioning, running water or even basic sanitation, where diseases like amoebic dysentery, malaria and Ebola are common and where people die for the want of basic antibiotics; wanting to go to work with people who don't have what we consider 'homes' but instead live in huts and sleep on the floor and who have probably never seen a flushing toilet in their whole lives, and wanting to do that free of charge!? It's crazy.  A crazy dream.  But, it's my dream, and I think it's great.  I can't think of any better dream, and I'm praying that fate will agree that it's a good idea and will facilitate my going and making my dream come true. 

I have a passion for this that I can't explain.  I LOVE looking after people, I LOVE caring for people....I LOVE what I'm doing now and I'm GOING to love what I plan to do.

I bought my first stethoscope today.  It's hot pink, and I have a feeling that this is going to be the 'scope I use for the rest of my career (unless it falls apart, that is).  I hope that this 'scope (I'm a poet and I don't know it, hehe) gets to be a travelling 'scope.  I hope that I get to achieve my dream.  I hope that the opportunities are really as endless as I percieve them to be.

I hope.