Life is good

Oh yes- life is good. We signed our lease- something we've been planning on since June! It's been a stressful process hopping through all the financial hoops, but we finally made it.

And after we got done, I got to go to my first preceptorship at Normandale Vet Clinic. It was so much fun, and I got to do more there in one day than I did during my entire semester at the clinic in Northfield. There are three of us working at the same clinic, and we all started our preceptorships today. The vet I'm working with immediately made me feel both comfortable and professional, and encouraged me to participate in his appointments with clients. Rather than awkwardly hanging out in the corner of the exam room during his appointments (like I did at the Northfield clinic), I was introduced to the clients as an intern, asked to listen to heart and lung sounds, palpate, and look at teeth and eyes and scabs and bumps. He gave me a pop quiz on where the palpable lymph nodes are on a dog, and I got most of them (except for inguinals- darn you inguinals!). I also got to perform my very first blood draw and vaccine injection! The techs are awesome teachers, and are very very patient people. They all seem really familiar with having vet students around, and kept encouraging us to jump in whenever we could. I'm so excited to go back!

So anyway, today has been an exciting (and draining) day. It is finally starting to sink in that getting the apartment means not just moving out of here, or moving in to there, but moving in together (!). We were a little spoiled by four years of dorm life, and being minutes away from each other most of the time. This year has been all about planned visits, commuting, and "see you next weekend." Even today, all we had were a few minutes to digest the fact that we just signed the lease, the thing we've been waiting to do for so long- and then it was goodbye, drive safe, see you this weekend. We've both done some important growing and learning this year, but I think the main thing we've learned is that life together is so much better in so many ways. It will be so good to have that back again.

Lease is signed. Chris has an art project that has put him into that happy obsessive art place that he goes when he has a really good idea. I felt a little bit like a (baby) vet today. Winnie is wandering around trying to bury two bones at once. Yup, life is good.