Epilogue...

My signature now reads: Kayla Stutler, RN

I do a tiny happy dance in my head every single time. Nursing school started in 2012. Roxas was 5 months old and I had no idea what my life was about to turn into. Fast forward to that crazy final day in 2014. I now had an AAS in Nursing but the book wasn't done being written. There was still one more thing. The NCLEX. I couldn't really be done until then. I couldn't write RN after my name, yet. Three years of hard work, nervous breakdowns, and many hours of family time sacrificed. It all came down to one test.

The day before I treated myself like a pretty pretty princess. I stuffed my face with ridiculously priced food from my favorite celebrity chef's restaurants. I went on a mini shopping spree and indulged in room service for the first time ever. I was on top of the world the night before. My confidence was through the roof. Then I took the test.

That test is designed by terrible people who want you to feel miserable about everything. No, really. The test gets harder and harder the more questions you get right...except you never think you are answering the questions right anyways and become completely convinced you have just failed miserably. I totally get why they don't allow roof access in Vegas. My computer shut off at 75 questions, the minimum amount of questions you can possibly pass with. Then, because remember these people are cruel, they have you answer a little exit survey. I probably said I was Mexican or African American. I was in such a state of shock I wouldn't have known my own name. I walked out of there feeling absolutely positively sure I failed. I went to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay to soothe my nerves and then grabbed a super yummy burger at yet another one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. Then I couldn't come up with anything else I wanted to do, because drinking copious amounts of beer was off the list, and I went home.

The next morning I woke up to a text from my boss of all people..."Is this Kayla Stutler RN??? Congratulations!!!" Of course I immediately logged onto the state nursing board and saw I had an RN license. Turns out they don't give out licenses to people who fail. There was a lot of crying. Then there was a lot of texting and general social media posting.

So I am officially done. All done. Absolutely nothing left to do but work. I now feel like the book of my nursing education journey can finally come to a close with this last piece, the epilogue. Until I start my BSN...dun dun duuuuuuun.