Graduation Day

Well, yesterday August 10, 2006, Nancy completed her Fast Track BSN Program at Texas Woman's Univeristy! She has conquered her Everest. This was a grueling accelerated Nursing Curriculum where they crammed the usual 24 months of material into a 15 month timetable.

Out of the 20 people who started, I think only 2 dropped out either due to not meeting academic requirements or familial obligations that interfered with the ability to meet the demands put on them as a result of an accelerated timetable.

I'm very proud of Nancy. When she got her Bachelors of Science degree in Sports Medicine from Brigham Young University her goal was to just get out and not fail. Any support she received from outside the university was non-existent. Thus, she finished with a 2.91 GPA. I like to refer to that period of her life as B.R. (Before Ray).

As she went through this program I was aware of her past foray into higher education and I attempted to be the most supportive person I could. Granted, at first, I was a despot at best at trying to get my wife to stay focused on the task at hand. I was such a dictator it put fears in Nancy's mind about what kind of parent I would be to school aged children.

Well, after some "come to Jesus" meetings with my wife, I started to let up. I still had to stay on her a bit and try and motivate when the pressure was too much. Nancy is a chronic procrastinator and somehow still gets acceptable (A's & B's) with little or no studying.

Well, when it was all said and done, Nancy is graduating with a 3.698 GPA! The downside is that she is missing Magna Cum Laude by .002 GPA points (if my calculations are correct), but she is still graduating with honors (Cum Laude).

She has a job already waiting for her. It's in Oklahoma City (yes that means we'll be moving) in an Emergency Room. This is where she wants to specialize since she thought it would be the best marriage of her experience in Sport Medicine with her newly gained experience in Nursing Medicine.

It just so happens that it was far easier for her to get hired into an ER up there than it was to get hired into one in the Houston Medical District where they expect a certain amount of experience before letting you come in. So this move is more for her than it is for me. It will give her the experience that she need right after graduation that she'd have to wait 2-5 years to get a shot down here.

So now, a new form of reality is set forth for my wife. And a new adventure begins for us as a couple......