I'm WAY too old to pull all nighters.

For quite a while Wayne and I have been trying to decide what to do with Nursing school. As you all know I've been trying to get into Siast and there is a good chance that I won't be in before they change the requirements. Unfortnately, if I don't get in this year then I am going to have to upgrade all of my highschool core classes in order to bring my average up to 85%. When ONLY doing night courses it would take me a couple of years to get these classes completed...boooo.

Wayne has tried to convince me to apply to North Battleford college...ummmm, NO!!! There were too many negatives in my mind to even think about it.
-I refused to move there, paying rent and a mortgage is NOT in our budget, and I love my inlaws but would go INSANE if I lived with them...hehe., and there was NO WAY I was only seeing my boys on the weekend for 2 years...NEVER!!!

-the commute...uggg...not only would I have to go to school for 7 hours a day but then add a 2 hour commute onto that and that just sucks. Plus, what if the weather is crappy, will I get to school? will I get home from school?

-I don't want to leave my boys for those extra 2 hours (commute) a day... :(

-North Battleford College?!?!?! Really??? What kind of program would they have anyway?

-etc. etc. etc.

Well sneaky little Wayne decided to bring it up again while my Mom was visiting and while I was complaining about having to upgrade all my classes. My Mom decided to play devil's advicate and asked me "Jackie, would you rather make some sacrifices now and go to NB but be done school in 2 years, or would you rather wait, have to upgrade for 2 years, still maybe not have a high enough average and who knows when you'll get in?" Ugggg....you should have seen Wayne's "I told you so" face...hehe. I tried to give all my excuses and convince them both it wasn't a good idea and well it didn't work. My mom added "What would it hurt to apply?" "Apply, see if you get in and then make the big decisions."

So after some long, long hours of sleepless nights (I HATE when my brain won't settle down), prayers, many hours of Wayne and I talking about it, talking to the school etc. I finally decided that maybe it was a good idea to apply. What about all my reasons not to go to NB?

-the commute sucks but it's a pretty easy drive, and if the weather is bad there is family and friends that I can crash their pad for a few nights.

-I would be gone in the morning at 7:30 and be home by 5:30, so really it's like having a full time job. (This still makes me VERY sad because I have been blessed to stay home with my boys for the last 5 years and to think of not being there ALL the time for them kills me. But this is where the sacrifice comes in, if I give up these next 2 years (which we all WILL adjust) I will have a career and be able to work just a few days a week and then be home with my boys for the rest of the week)

-the program is the EXACT same program as Siast, in fact the teachers are trained through Siast. But in NB the program only accepts 14 people compared to 25 people in S'toon.

So this weekend Wayne and I took the boys and headed down to NB to apply for the program. This was the last year that NB was doing the "first come, first served" requirements and next year it changes to "high demand" like the rest of the province. I decided that I would get to the school by 6am and then wait in line...Wayne wasn't sure that was a good idea since it was the last year. So Wayne and I made a plan, the boys and I were going to stay at Wayne's parents house and Wayne & his brother Andy were going to camp out overnight and then if needed get in line till I got there at 6am.

10:45- Wayne arrives at the school and noone else is there.

11:15-Wayne calls to say that a car has just pulled up with 2 girls in it.

11:30-Wayne calls again to say that another car has pulled up and has another 2 girls in it. I could tell that Wayne was anxious and he told me that he wanted me to come in sooner than later. My father in law said that it would be better for me to leave then than drive at 3am when I was tired. My inlaws agreed to watch the boys. I was a little worried that my teething, sick baby was going to keep them up all night which he did from 4-5 and then Grandpa rocked him back to sleep and they slept on the rocking chair....thanks Grandpa & Grandma.

12:30- I got to the school and went to talk with the other 2 cars of girls. I told them both that I didn't want to stand outside (it was FREEZING COLD) until 7:30 unless other people showed up and they agreed. One of the cars told me that they knew of 5 more girls that were coming around 3am, and the other car (a mom and daughter) said they knew that one more girl was coming....so we knew of a total of 10 girls that were going to be there FOR SURE. I climbed in the car with Wayne & Andy and just chilled for a little while, watched a bit of a movie, played with the ipod, laughed at Andrew's adventures with girls, and just talked.

12:48- A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in...it doesn't.
12:51- A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in...it doesn't.
1:01- A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in...it doesn't.
1:15- A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in...it does.
1:23-A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in...it does but only brought coffee for one of the cars.
1:38-A car drives by and we all watch to see if it pulls in....it doesn't.
1:39-Wayne said that he thought that road wasn't a busy one....he's wrong.

3am- There are a total of 9 cars and at least 14 people in the cars (we didn't know how many people were there to apply and how many were there to keep the appliers awake).

3am-4am- Wayne and Andrew have a sleep. I play with the Ipod and watch cars(mostly taxis) drive by.

4am- It's my turn to fall asleep and Andy & Wayne are suppose to stay awake now....they don't....I don't fall asleep. I was worried that I would fall asleep and either sleep till after 8(the time they were taking applications) or that I would sleep and miss people lining up.

5am-I drive to go to the bathroom (I wasn't freezing my booty off by peeing outside) and while in the nice warm bathroom I put on my snowpants and boots.

5:05am- I didn't want to leave the warm bathroom.

5:25am- Back in the car with the boys...a car drives by and we watch to see if it pulls in....it doesn't.

So to fill you in, the program has space for 14 people, and being that it's first come first admitted meant that the first 14 people in line (as long as they have the required marks and classes) were the 14 in the class.

5:50- A car pulls up to the school and a girl gets out (a girl who wasn't there ALL night) and stands by the door aka...the line.

5:50:15- I look over and people are climbing out of their vehicles. Wayne quickly throws me my toque and mitts, I grab a blanket and I quickly walk up to the school and stand beside the girl. I informed her (remember I was VERY tired from being up ALL night and not sleeping well the night before that) that there were 9 cars with people in them that had been there all night and they weren't going to be happy that she JUST got there and was the first in line.

Everyone that had been in the cars piled out and we all formed a line. There were 12 people applying for the program so far.

6:15- Another person joins the line.

6:17- A car pulls up, looks at the line and leaves...weird. (They left to get coffee before she came to stand in line....she came back to be person #15)

6:18-Two more people joined the line and that was the 14.

6:20-Everyone was visiting/getting to know eachother... I'm super excited because everyone seems really sweet, and fun....it's going to be a GREAT class.

6:30- A secretary for the school came and gave us each a number in the order that we were, wrote down our name and number and told us to go get back in our warm cars.....THANKYOU, THANKYOU!!!!

Wayne left to go relieve his parents and get Andrew to bed.

7:30-People start showing up and stand in line... I felt bad for them for a minute since they had no clue they were WAY too late, but then I remembered how we had ALL been there for hours and made the effort to get the spots we did and I then just felt bad they were getting cold.

7:45-I went to stand in line and let the people know that we had all been given numbers at 6am when we had originally lined up....they weren't impressed.

7:58-I was FREEZING cold (the wind was now blowing towards us and it was freakin' cold)!!! The secretary's stood in the office (which we could see very well) and drank their nice warm coffees, and were just warm.

7:59-That was THE LONGEST minute of my life!!!

8:00-The ladies opened the door and we were let in the building.

8:05- I was registered!!!!  #2 in line and the 2nd person they would admit(as long as there aren't issues with my upgrades/Accuplacer) into the program.

I'm SUPER excited to finally be in....well tentatively in. The program starts in February 2011...too long away. Of course, if I still get into the program here in Saskatoon I'll be going there but at least I know that I will be in somewhere. It also has taken such a HUGE weight off my shoulders... I don't have to upgrade anymore!!! But not only upgrade but I don't HAVE to get crazy high marks. I'm still going to finish my Math class, and I'm still going to get as high as I can but that stress that came along with it is gone. What relief.

I am BEYOND exhausted today but I'm elated to be able to see the light at the end of the very long and stressful tunnel. It's made all the hard work, worry, tears worth it. WOOHOO!!!!