Halftime

I have already hit the halfway point of this short assignment. I haven't really been keeping track of the days left on this assignment, I'm simply enjoying as much as I can in the short amount of time I have.

The discussion of my next assignment has already commenced, it seems like it never really ended. I started to apply for licensing in a few other states as well, hoping to deepen the pool of opportunity available to me. Licensing is a funny thing. I get the question about licensing often. Each state has its own requirements. Even though all nursing in the U.S. take the NCLEX (the standardized test to become a nurse), being a nurse in Wisconsin doesn't automatically make me a nurse in California. Wisconsin is what is referred to as a "compact state." There are 24 states that are part of a nursing compact which allows a nurse with an original compact license to "walk through" into another compact state and practice nursing without getting a different license. Applying for licensing in non-compact states is taxing, expensive, just plain stupid, if I do say so myself. A nurse is a nurse, right? Apparently not. The two states I applied for licensing in required FBI fingerprint cards, background checks, transcripts from the university I graduated from, along with answers to a million personal questions including my bra size.

Alright, that last one was a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.

After sending in the two applications, fees, and fingerprint cards, it set me back two days worth of coordination/paperwork-filling-out and about $300. Crazy, right? But, like my recruiters told me, getting a license in a state doesn't guarantee a job, but not getting a license guarantees you will not get a job. So, in the end, it is a calculated risk with the hope of professional and personal gain.

Although I am missing home at times (especially when I watch the Packer games, like I am right now!), I am much more at peace this time around. I feel at ease, like this is the life I was always meant to be living. Not sure if New Hampshire simply suits me, if my new-found friends have made me feel so at home I'm not homesick, or if I have finally let go of some of the control and decided to let life take its course.

I leave you now with a few more "test drive" pictures from my new camera. The next challenge for Mark will be a family session with one of my new favorite families; more on that later!