Over this last school break, I attend a five-day seminar in a massage technique that I have been interested in for a long time. It was the first time that this course was offered in America, and since I have been looking at it, the timing of things couldn't be more perfect.  As students, we can get discounted rates on most post-graduate education. This is beneficial as we shape our knowledge to fit the way that we hope to practice. There are just too many seminars and too little time!

It has finally happened: I am in the clinic seeing chiropractic patients! This has been a long time coming, and I live with a visual depiction of exactly how long I have been back in school as I watch my daughter grow. I came to National to finish up my prerequisites with a 5-month-old squishy little baby in tow, and now she is a 5-year-old, super-sassy Kindergartener. It is incredible to see how much we both have grown.

Last week was week 14, the second last of the trimester, and I just finished (almost!) what every responsible student should have been doing: moving to a new home.

It's midway through summer, and I have been getting my crop share for a few weeks now. Overall, I have been pretty happy with the selection that I have been getting in my boxes. When you don't personally pick out your produce, you are left with the creative task of figuring out what to do with vegetables that you might not typically work with. There have been all sorts of tasty tidbits included in my share: rainbow chard, kale, cucumbers, assorted lettuces, beets, kohlrabi, snap peas, turnips, and so much garlic. For as much as I love garlic, I found myself with more than I knew what to do with. Some of it made its way into jars to infuse olive oil with its delicious flavor. 

It’s week 11, and I just registered for classes for the last time! We just went through the selection process for the clinician whom we will be working under for the next year in the clinic. It was a hot topic all week last week, with everyone trying to find out who everyone else was going to be picking, and hoping that there would still be room on the shift that they wanted.

I have a new obsession: Audiobooks. My love for them has been growing over the last few months, but I have gotten to the point where they are one of the only types of media that I am consuming anymore.

Among all of the other things that I am involved with, I am a board member for our school's Pride Medical Alliance, a group comprised of National's LGBTQ community and allies. We have all sorts of events going on this month, such as "Be an Ally" week, tie-dying shirts, and marching in two different Pride parades alongside the Open Door organization.

I feel like I frequently begin my posts with some expression of disbelief over how fast time is moving, but it really is just flying by! It's week five with all of its early assessments. The cygnets have even hatched, and there are a bunch of new, fluffy little babies roaming about. This past week has been especially action-packed; complete with a lunch and learn presentation put on by the post-graduate department, and a clean needling technique certification course.

So…we are back from break and working on falling into the groove of the next trimester. Breaks have always been strange for me, because I spend so much time juggling things during the term, that when there is no school and there is suddenly all of this time, all sorts of issues from day-to-day aspects of life can crop up.

I only have four more exams left for the term! It's great to have the end in sight, though there was some guilt as I told the kiddos that mommy was not going to get to play until Wednesday. They will be so thrilled to have me back, even now as I write this, my son is curled up and sleeping next to me on the couch. In the midst of all of this test prep to become a DC, I took a ride out to the Rustic Road Farm about a half hour drive west of campus in Elburn, Ill. to order my seasonal crop share.