Brian has been laying hardwood in the bedrooms. He has finished Kayla’s and Allyson’s room and is currently working on ours. This requires everything to be moved out and going through everything. I refuse to discuss how much stuff I have either given or thrown away. I still have more than enough junk and I can’t help but wonder where it comes from.

Yesterday I was cleaning out my night stand when I found this gem.

It has been in the same place well protected for THIRTY years now. I still remember this like it was yesterday. Back in the day, NCLEX was a class you could take to help you study for boards. I am thinking it was a couple of hundred bucks to which Gena and I said nope not taking it. It was optional and the acutal test was just called  boards. Now the test is called NCLEX which is very confusing for me.

Back in 1988 it was a two-day test given in Springfield Missouri, The test was in four parts, two each morning and two in the afternoon. Gena, Katie and I all drove down together. I borrowed my moms car because it had air conditioning and my personalized plates had already arrived RACH-RN. I figured it would be bad karma to drive mine to the test as if I had already passed. We shared a hotel room as well. I can’t remember which night we went to the mall and had this done but we each received a copy.

The test was awful. For starters people walked around the entire time staring at you making sure you didn’t cheat. If you had to use the restroom, you had to raise your hand and be escorted to the bathroom like a three-year old. I remember the room was filled with long cafeteria like tables. It seems like we had two hours for each portion. This led to once everyone was finished, we would all start comparing answers and be convinced we had all failed. I had smoked during nursing school but quit when I graduated. Over those two days I easily smoked over a pack of cigs by myself. I remember throwing what I had left out the window on the way home.

I think it was a good six weeks before our results arrived in the mail. I was so thankful to see a small envelope because that meant I had passed. I swore if I failed, I was working at Hardees for the rest of my life because I wasn’t going through that again in December. Boards were only offered twice a year back then. Gena and Katie also passed as well, although by the time we had arrived home we just knew we had failed. Katie and I worked together at Deaconess until I left for St. Johns burn unit. I must really be getting old because all of these memories just keep flooding back and I am starting to feel like an old person with all my “back in my day” stories!

Mole Moral ~ You never know what I am going to find in my house when I actually go through stuff. This was a true gem and put back where it has always been kept!