About six months ago, I posted an OT about how I was thinking about going to school to get my Emergency Medical Technician certification and I asked for encouragement. A lot of you responded and shared your own stories of going back to school, and that played a big part in my decision to go for it. After five months of going to class every Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., I DID IT!!! If you had told me at the end of August, 2011, that I would be able to get through the textbook of over 1,000 pages, and RETAIN most of it, I would have had serious doubts about your sanity! Especially since the last time that I had taken any kind of test was back in 1975 when I graduated from high school. But I think that my age worked in my favor - I had more life experience than the other students and, because I'm older and know more people with health problems, my instincts seemed to be more finely tuned to what others are feeling. I was generally able to hone in any of the problems which our instructors threw at us, whether trauma, medical, or CPR-related, faster than anyone else. I ended up with the highest average in the class - 94%.

So a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who encouraged me as well as to those who left messages on my profile page, asking how class was going or sharing their own experiences. I may not know you personally, but you have NO IDEA how much those things meant to me! Next - ride-alongs, so that I can get some real, hand-on experience!