What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 3

Even though Jules and I weren’t living together we did get to hang out a few times over the past several months which has been great.  I drove to Kansas City one weekend to catch up with her and a few other friends in February after KC had been covered in over a foot of snow.  Being our young and somewhat unprofessional selves we decided it was perfect to go sledding.  After purchasing a sled, we headed to the local community college which Jules had scouted out for good sledding hills.  We joined a crowd of about 20 others- mostly dads and their kids (the mothers were probably tired from being stuck with kids while the schools were closed).  We had a lot of fun but realized we are older than we thought.  After just 30 minutes of sledding we were exhausted.  It is hard work having fun, tramping through snow that is knee deep, trudging back up the hill to the top for another round.  There were also a few times we crashed and rolled or jumped on the sled and almost threw out a back.  We are getting old. 

My next visit to Kansas City to see Jules was with our friend Hillary over Memorial Day.  This was another trip not for the faint of heart.  Our first stop was the Kansas City Zoo and we had a tight schedule to keep so we only had a few hours to see it all.  We kept up a pretty good pace with minimal stops—we mastered the art of enjoying the animals while continuing to move forward.  What we probably enjoyed more was people watching- particularly all the parents with small children.  It was a warm afternoon so there were quite a few tired, sweaty, and cranky kids...and parents.  Nothing like some good ole fashioned family fun.  After a quick stop at Sonic for Happy Hour we transitioned into our evening of culture for Celebration at the Station.  This is a free concert put on by the KC Symphony at Union Station with 50,000 people sitting on the grass in front of the WWI Memorial.  It was a beautiful evening and there was wonderful music.  My favorite piece was the 1812 Overture.  This was special though because it fulfilled an item on my bucket list—to hear it played live with cannon.  Impressive!  After the concert there was a fireworks show as well—I also have a thing for fireworks too so it was a great evening.  Then next morning Hillary thought it would be fun to go on a bike ride at 6am.  It was fun until we rode through a downpour the last three miles and were drenched.  We saw one group of moms out going with a stroller of little kids caught in the deluge—another time during this weekend we were thankful not to have small children although Hillary will probably tell you that I did whine a little bit.  It rained the entire morning so we went shopping!  We hit a great used bookstore and then ate soup for lunch at Panera.  Nothing beats potato soup in a bread bowl on a rainy day.  In addition to all of our activities it was also wonderful to catch up and share life with some wonderful gals as well. 

Our latest adventure together has been when Jules came out for my wedding.  In addition to getting married (which is usually what people do at weddings) it was such a great weekend to hang out with my wonderful friends.  I, for one, have been very blessed to live with Jules for three years (I think I made it the longest as her roommate, and she has had a boatful). So many great times.

Hopefully, Jules will continue on with this blog while Alex is going to transition to posting on a blog with her husband as they journey through married life together.  This blog can be found at http://omniavincitamorloveconquersall.blogspot.com/.  Thanks for reading!

What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 2

During these months besides working full time, I was spending quite a bit of time studying for my PT exam.  During one practice exam I was on questions 18 out of 200 and was about ready to cry because I didn’t know 14 out of the first 18 questions and there was no way I would ever know enough to become a PT and I might as well curl up and die.  I didn’t curled up and die but took the real exam, did just fine, and was maybe even a little upset I studied so much.  In addition to working and studying, I was also searching and interviewing for jobs.  I accepted a job to work in the outpatient physical therapy department at a regional health center.  It will be primarily orthopedics and sports medicine with no hospital responsibilities—basically it sounded just like my dream job so I said yes.  So when I wasn’t working, studying, or trying to find a job, I was spending my free time planning a wedding.  So truthfully, my mother was planning the wedding, doing most of the work, and I was advising and pitching in on occasion.  It was going to be a small, simple country wedding.  It tends to be less small when you are related to a large portion of the church.  A wedding also tends to be less simple when your mother is crazy and decided to do almost everything herself.  Instead of DIY standing for do-it-yourself, we changed it to DYI—do-yourself-in.  My mom may have made 3 wedding dresses--of course I only wore two of them.  She also made all the floral arrangements, bouquets, corsages, etc.  We then planted our wildflowers and I was out picking wildflower arrangements the morning of the wedding getting eaten alive by mosquitoes.  We might have made 700 wedding mints (at least this was a good study break) and 17 dozen brownies.  It was crazy but surprisingly enough everyone survived.  I owe both my mom and dad a huge thank you for letting me live with them but also putting up with everything going on in my life during those months.  I think they might have a few sleepless nights and were incredible supportive.  As my mom put it later, “Alex, your life has been my life lately.”

Next, graduation weekend finally arrived.  I’m not sure who was more excited- myself or my dad who was dancing around our hotel room wearing my ridiculous graduation tam the morning of graduation.  I also think it is ridiculous that we all dressed up in the doctoral regalia with the funny hood (it is amazing how long it took several soon to be Doctors of Physical Therapy to figure out which direction the hood is attached to the gown-- it may have even required the assistance of a YouTube video), the floppy hat, and the lovely black gowns that none of us would be caught dead wearing any other time, but by golly we were very proud to be dressed outrageously and graduate- no fashion police were going to keep us from our diplomas.  So, actually KU Med has three graduations—I suppose they think you should get your money’s worth after so many years.  I attended two of the ceremonies and was graduated out by then and refused to attend the third in Lawrence.  It was a lot of fun to reunite with my classmates after several months.  It was also exciting to hear about all the life changes—especially new jobs (once again we were all thrilled by the idea of getting a paycheck to work).  There have been so many great memories over the past three years of PT school.  We are all glad it is done, and truthful unsure if we would want to do it again, but I don’t think I would trade the people in my class who I had the privilege to experience it with and being involved in each others lives. 

I'm sure we were suppose to be doing something more productive in lab than drawing mustaches but I'm sure we had a bad case of senoritis that day.

What happened to Jules and Alex??? Part 1

Since our last post, dear readers, quite a bit of time has come and gone.  Also for Jules and Alex, quite a bit of life and the changes it brings have come as well.  Jules and Alex have ironically flipped roles—Jules is returning to school and Alex graduated (finally) and entered the working world (and finally knows what a paycheck is!).  They have also both moved from their cozy little apartment.  Alex has actually moved 4 times since then—no wonder she hasn’t blogged because she is constantly packing and unpacking all of her personal belongings.  Jules has become an aunt for the second time.  Alex found a new roommate (who is a guy—gasp) when she got married this summer.  There have also been some adventures in between.

While I (Alex) finished PT classes in Kansas City in December, I still had 5 months of indentured servant hood ahead of me.  My first clinical was in Marysville, Kansas.  Three weeks before this clinical started I didn’t know a soul in Marysville and also had no idea where I was going to live.  It seemed like it was going to be a bleak winter, but God always works things out.  Through my sister-in-law’s vast social network I got connected with a couple who went to school with my brother who had just bought a house in Marysville but weren’t moving until the summer.  Their house was empty but they were willing to have someone stay in it before they started remodeling.  Therefore, I moved into a house for 2 months that contained a bed, card table, and 3 folding chairs.  I brought with me a sleeping bag, clothes, all the textbooks one may need while studying for a PT licensing exam, and a few dishes.  (I should write a blog sometime about how to cook with 1 pot, 1 paring knife, an apple slicer, 3 forks, and 2 spoons—I’m not a chef but I can be creative with very little).  During my time there I went on a few home health visits and at one point was struck by how "homey" her house was.  I then realized that if felt so homey because it actually had furniture (at least more than a card table and folding chair). I did spend a lot of time at the PT clinic where I worked- I really enjoyed the staff and many of the patients.  My free time in the evenings was filled with attending cardio kick boxing class, using the internet access at the public library, and studying, and more studying if I had time.  Marysville is known for its black squirrels.  They are the only place in the state that has black squirrels and legend has it that they escaped from a circus passing through.  My entire time I was on the look out for black squirrels but didn’t see any until the last day I was there I went on a stakeout at the park and finally caught a glimpse of  a few.  When I got back to my house there were three playing in the front yard—where had they been hiding out?  Thinking back, I came away with two things from Marysville.  One day I spent visiting some nursing homes in the area with one PT so I saw all new patients that day and was in new places.  It struck me that evening that I had spent the whole day only interacting with 1 person who knew my name.  This can feel pretty isolating and I struggled with that that night.  As an introvert sometimes it is exhausting meeting new people all the time.  I should have considered that when choosing my profession but getting to know the people I work with is also one of my favorite parts.  For example that particular day I worked with a lady who had been the town mayor for 30 years, 2 gentlemen who went to school together in a 1 room schoolhouse and were still just as mischievous, and another gentleman who served in both the Pacific and Europe during WWII.  While I did feel slightly isolated at times in Marysville living by myself, I was also very touched by how welcoming everyone I worked with was.  They invited me to exercise class, took time to teach me new techniques, invited me to join them for dinner, picked me up when I was snowed in, etc.  While I didn’t know anyone before, I felt like I left family when I was done with my clinical. 

Next I transitioned from living alone in a new place to moving back in with my parents.  This was different.  My mom cooked for me—real meals and not the same meal for a week straight.  There were more opportunities to interact but also more distractions to keep me from studying for my upcoming board exam—my mother wanted to talk about planning my wedding and my father wanted to hang out and do something fun all the time.  My clinical was at a town about 30 miles away so I got a chance to commute each day.  It was at the clinic where the lady who first got me thinking about becoming a PT works.  It was fun to work with her and the others at the clinic and be in awe of their skills.  I was studying my brains out and had just learned so much in three years of class, but working in the shadow of these therapists I longed to learn so much more and get the “magical” skills they had.