What do you do with the pieces of a broken heart?

Another morning in the library with the Caribbean Sea on 3 sides.  A favourite place to study.

Sitting beside Frond, he gchats me this link.  So sweet.  A good day.

Exam week

Another exam week over!  Now on to the 4-day weekend!

How I feel:

Talented friend!

I have a many. And one of them is Shannon, who I’ve known since Grade 1, when we shared our school’s grass-less pebble-plentiful playground.

I’ve never heard Shannon sing or play a musical instrument. So when I heard these recordings of her singing along to her ukulele, I was blown away! It’s always impressive to see people putting themselves out there, and even more impressive when it’s after only 8 weeks of ukulele playing. Check out more of her recordings at her soundcloud page.

and

She’s also very talented at making thoughtful comments on my blog. I really appreciate her perspective and that she can laugh with me at the painfulness that is learning clinical skills. She’s in nursing school, which means that she gets all my questions about nurses and nursing school, as I’ve always been unclear about the line between doctors, nurses, med school and nursing school.

When I visited Shannon over winter break, she told me that before she applied to go back to school, she wasn’t sure if she could have been a nurse. She had finished a degree in Psychology and had pursued Fine Arts, and in high school did the minimum amount of science to graduate. But she took a chance on it, and has been doing amazing since day 1. She said to me, “It’s kind of cliche, but it’s true what they say.. that if you really put your mind to something, you can accomplish it!”

When you meet Shannon, she may seem quiet but she is no way meek. She’s the kind of person who doesn’t talk when everyone else is talking, but when something needs to be said or someone needs to be called out on something, Shannon is the first to speak up, especially those times when no one has the guts to say it. Sharing her songs so publicly just reminds me of how she keeps stepping outside her comfort zone and just keeps growing more from it.

In the background