Back at it

Dear Ones,

Its snowing. I guess it was inevitable but in the back of my mind was a tiny hope we would make it through winter without it. I don't mind it happening outside as long as I don't have to go in it or worse, drive in it. And with my clinical across the river, this semester I'll be driving longer distances, across icy bridges in it...wish me luck.

Christmas and new years was great to spend at home. So great that it was hard to leave even after spending 3 weeks there full of ping-pong tournaments, rook, football in the back yard, bonfires, beaches, food...and all of this with the greatest family in the world. Now its back to reality...

For the first two months of this semester I'm out of class and in the clinic. Its odd coming home without homework to complete but I'm not complaining about it. I work over 40 hours a week at a small out patient clinic. My clinical instructor, the PT who I am learning under, is younger than I am but I don't think he knows that. I'm starting to get my feet underneath me and feeling more and more comfortable working with different patients. These first 2 weeks of it have blown by. This week I came to work and told the people in the office that my cousin was on ESPN's top 10 for a game saving block against Gonzaga. They eagerly turned on the TV just in time to catch the story. My CI was so excited he told every patient that came in that morning. BYU basketball now has a new fan base in a tiny town in the Midwest. They'll be looking for yall in the tournament.

All the talk about BYU basketball inspired a conversation about Mormons. My CI, my patient, even other patients in the clinic all started asking questions. What can we drink and not drink? How long is a Mormon mission? At one point my clinical instructor said, "So yall don't drink, don't smoke, don't gamble, don't curse....Basically yall don't do anything bad." I laughed and I said that's the goal, to not do anything wrong but its a work in progress for us all. He got me thinking, he knew those things were bad. I didn't have to tell him, he already knew. So if we know they are bad why do we do them? I think we're all guilty of that to one degree or another.

To keep me busy on Saturday's I work as a TA for anatomy lab. I always loved anatomy but now is the added bonus of no stress to memorize everything for a test. The first year PT students don't have their first test until the middle of February but they are already terrified at the prospect. The lab has been packed during open lab hours. I know its only the first week and eventually they will taper off but as for now I really have to be on my game.

Otherwise life goes on here as usual, bring on another week!

-E