One Year

I have come a long way.

One year ago today I was studying frantically to take my finals in anatomy and physiology. I had just graduated with my bachelors in psychology and was taking classes at a junior college to fulfill the prerequisites for grad school. I was taking an aerial class in ribbon and trying hard to memorize every bone, muscle, vein and artery in the body. I knew how the kidney worked, how the blood ran through the entire body and the pathology of muscle disease. I was excited and optimistic.

Today I am studying frantically to finish up my first year in grad school. I am writing what seems to be the umpteenth paper this semester. I have journal database combing down to the art. I know how to test if every sense in the body is intact and what to do when a child cannot swallow properly. I have watched dozens of documentaries, episodes of the office and various other weekly shows to keep me sane. I can rattle off the typical age of every developmental milestone imaginable. I am exhausted, yet amazed at myself.

What is the difference between the me a year ago and the me now? Well, I’ve gained wisdom. I have had hundreds more opportunities to make a fool of myself and reflect afterward, determined to do better next time. I have gained an appreciation of what it might mean to have an actual job, and begun to leave behind my old dream of being a life-long student. I have slowly, but surely, started to understand what exactly it’s going to mean to be an occupational therapist. I have just begun to get a taste of what I might actually do out there in the real world.

The past year has been a completely new experience and I look forward to what the next has to bring me. Hello summer, I’m just about ready for you :)