It is C-O-L-D cold

I have been back in the states for 3 weeks now and it's all very surreal. I am very much enjoying being back and seeing friends and family and being in a familiar place but in a way I feel like I am missing a part of me. The thing is I feel the same way when I am away. It is really hard to describe but it is as if there are these two lives I live and no matter how hard I try I cannot quite get the two to fit together inside my head. I am constantly missing something or someone. Even though this is the case, I would not change it for a second. There are a lot of people out there searching for something to make their life feel full and fulfilled and I have somehow found 2 of them.

I settled back in much quicker this time. I am back working at my old job at my local hospital, and I remember how to be a real nurse! I am not working as much as I would like but it is giving me time to get a lot of other things done and I have a very long list of things to accomplish in the next 7 weeks before returning to the ship. I have applied for graduate school and Lord willing will begin studying in the fall to become a Woman's Health Nurse Practitioner and a Certified Nurse Midwife. I was dreading the idea of going back to school but now with the application finished, I really am excited about the idea. Not only will it take me to a new place in my career but I am excited about the idea of staying in one place for more than 3 or 4 months. This will lock me in for at least 2 years. To a girl who has moved to a new place about every 3 months for the last 3 years that is actually sounding like a good thing.