I think I've figured it out!

So, why is graduate school so difficult?

It’s not just because the standards are higher, or that I’m learning 20X as much information as I learned before. Nor is it just because I’ve left all of my dear friends and family to come to a huge city where I know so few people.

Every single day I’m confronted with my ignorance and my incompetence. Seven days a week I don’t have a clue how to do what is expected of me (which is why everything takes twice as long to complete). At the beginning of the semester, each student is placed in a clinical practicum where he/she has had absolutely no experience. We are forced to provide services to real human beings, but we are merely shooting in the dark. By the end of the semester we have gained enough confidence in our therapy that we don’t feel quite as inept, but then the semester is over and we begin a new experience where we are as ignorant and useless as before. It’s a wretched cycle. Being reminded of how incompetent you are is like a blow to the gut. And so why am I exhausted and weary all of the time? Because I’ve been punched everyday for two semesters! I asked God for humility… and boy howdy! He gave it!

Spring Break!

Midterms were a doozy this semester, but they are over! To celebrate spring break, I went to visit Amber and Kent in Indianapolis! Whoop!

Two very great things happened while I was there...
1. Ruby Grace Brantly was born! My sister became a mother (I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that fact), and I became an aunt!
2. Kent found out where he, Amber, and Ruby will live the next four years for his residency program... Fort Worth!!!!

Life seems to have changed drastically in one year. Amber was single and living in California last spring break. Now she has a husband and a daughter. One year ago I was still in undergrad living in Abilene. It feels like such a distant memory.

What I like about Mom...

I realize that this is a month late... but I didn't get to be in Abilene for Mom's birthday to participate in our wonderful family tradition of sharing what we like about the birthday person!
So... What I like about Mom is that she is my personal cheerleader! I love that I can call her when I'm in tears from the stresses of my studies or life, and she encourages me to trudge forward and excel. She is a huge support who encouraged her children's personal growth through kind words, deep insight, creative ideas, genuine love, and homemade goodies.

In my academic panics, I don't necessarily need to know exactly how to give a feeding evaluation, or perform a modified barium swallow, or diagnose a patient with severe Broca's aphasia with profound verbal apraxia and moderate Flaccid Dysarthria, (etc.) , I just need Mom to talk me through the practical steps of breathing deeply and making a glass of Rooibos Chai tea, and reassuring me that I CAN do this. Thanks, Mom, for being my cheerleader and encourager throughout my life! Love you bunches!