When It Rains It Pours…In My Living Room

It has been a long week, and it’s only Tuesday.  Tuesday is always a long day this tri because it’s my clinic day.  That means I’m in class at 7 AM and I get home about 7 PM.  I don’t see the sun on Tuesdays.  Today was particularly long, however.  My day started at 3:30 AM.

I awoke this morning at about 3 AM to wind rattling the windows and storm that sounded like it was going to take my roof off.  I was enjoying listening to the rain as I laid there and tried to go back to sleep.  That was until I heard my bedroom door shift.  It was the sound it makes when there is a draft sucking air from inside the apartment.  It was then that I realized the living room window had been left open.

I came out into the living room to find a radius of 6 feet of carpet around the window soaked along with half a love seat.  The recliner in front of the window was completely drenched.  So I shut the window and began sopping up water.  Luckily, the recliner had a slip cover so I was able to get it off before it soaked through to actual chair, but I had to dismantle the chair in the process of removing it.  I managed to use up all my towels while working towards recovery from Hurricane St. Louis so I decided to throw them in the wash before school.  To my dismay, I realized I only had $.75 in quarters and it takes $1.50 to do a load.  So the towels got to sit in floor until I got home tonight.  One of my fabulous friends was gracious enough to run to the bank for me today and get more quarters before it closed.

Luckily, everything else went pretty good today, but I’m incredibly tired right now.  I would like to go to bed, but I am in chiropractic school, and in chiropractic school there is no rest for the weary.  I have 3 more midterms this week so no going to bed early tonight.  I’m off to study some more.

Words

Last week we had our out patient clinic lottery.  There are five out patient clinics that we have to choose from to complete our last year of work at Logan.  Some clinics are bigger than others and some of them seem to be more advantageous to the students.  Because of this our health center professor holds a lottery to determine the order of who gets to pick their clinic.  I think it’s really the only fair way.  I was having a hard time deciding what clinic I wanted so I came up with a list of pros and cons and determined my top 3 choices.  Right before the lottery I had prayed that God would lead me where he wanted me to be.  I didn’t get my first choice.  I was, however, able to sign up for my number two pick.  Most people were upset if they didn’t get their number one choice, but I was at peace with where I ended up because I knew that God wanted me to be there.  After the lottery was completed we were given the option to trade with one of our classmates if we wanted to.  There were several that wanted to trade, but not many that were willing.  Some offered money for trades.  One guy paid $1000 to get into the clinic he wanted!  I thought that was a little excessive.  Every time I heard someone asking for a trade I thought about something I had heard my Grandpa say before he died.  He said, “Bloom where you’re planted.”  Life can take you so many places.  Those places aren’t always where you want to be, but you should put your all into whatever you’re doing, no matter what.

Remembering my Grandpa’s words made me start to think about my words.  Do I say things that will make a difference in others’ lives?  Is it the difference I want to make?  Words are powerful.  A friend recently told me that when she was in the second grade her teacher told her that you always look the best in your favorite color.  She still remembers this and when she’s picking out clothes she takes this into consideration.  Words can bring joy, laughter, torment, pain, or wisdom.  I hope that my words bring joy, laughter and wisdom.

I recognize that working in the healthcare field kind of puts me on a pedestal, whether I want to be there or not.  People are going to look to me to be responsible and have answers.  I have become much more aware of the things that I say.  People take me seriously and because they do I feel I have the responsibility to use only words that help.  Just some food for thought: how are your words affecting those around you?