congratulations to...

It's long been one of CJ's goals to go back to school and get his nursing degree, and so I'm thrilled to announce that he was accepted into Ivy Tech's program today!  Ivy Tech offers a year-long nursing program specifically for paramedics, and it was the perfect fit for CJ, and well, us. 

Since the program is designed for paramedics, the schedule is worked around the three fire department shifts.  The same class is offered twice a week at different times, so if one of them falls on a day he works, he can just attend the other class.  His clinicals will all work around his schedule as well.

Working around his fire department schedule is key.  Last semester, when CJ was in classes, he would work his regular twenty-four hour shifts.  If he had to work on a Tuesday when he had a half-day's worth of classes, he took the time off and then went in to finish off the last fourteen hours of his shift.  If he had to work on a Thursday when he was in class from 1 until 8 pm, he had to do a time trade at work for a Saturday.  Those weeks were the worst.  I'd see him -- through a sleep-induced haze -- at 6 am on Saturday mornings, and then I wouldn't see him again until 5:30 pm on Monday night.  Needless to say, I'm not sure we really spent much time with anyone because we really weren't able to spend much time with each other first.

Really, I just can't stress enough how important this particular program is to us, just because of the ease of scheduling.

We're not under any illusions though, especially since we've already gone through five months' worth of both of us working full-time jobs (and one of those being a non-traditional full-time job) and with both of us in school full-time.  We know it will be difficult on us and that we'll have to work harder than ever on our marriage.  So starting in August and going for approximately one year, if you don't see us for weeks or months on end, we're terribly sorry!

So anyway, I'll close out for tonight, but if you do see CJ anytime soon, be sure to give him a big congratulations -- he definitely deserves it.