Nurse

I returned from my mission on a Thursday and my dad asked if I would like to start working as his nurse on Monday.  What??  I wasn't a nurse. Jenny had been working as his nurse, but she wanted to quit to be home with her kids.  I was nervous to say yes, but he promised to train me well so I agreed to do it.   I gave my homecoming talk that Sunday and started to work on Monday.  

During the first two weeks Jenny trained me.  I followed her around and learned how to take vital signs and place patients.  On day one my dad taught me how to draw blood.  I watched him do it, and then I drew his blood.  I was totally freaked out, but I did it.  I learned how to call in prescriptions and assist with small surgeries.  I did not feel prepared, but after two weeks, I was on my own.  My dad was very patient and continued to teach me as I was working.  I worked full-time.  

In January, I started back to school.  I worked all day and took classes at night.  I still didn't know what I wanted to do when I grew up, but decided I would major in Spanish and maybe eventually teach it.  I took a Spanish efficiency test and got a bunch of credits instantly.  I was glad I had gone back to school before my mission, because I only had 5 semesters left.  I could get my bachelor's degree in 18 months.  

During that time I started dating again.  I met a guy named David in my Spanish class.  We paired up for an assignment and hit it off quickly.  We would talk after every class and he would walk me to my car.  Eventually I asked him when he was planning to ask me out, and he did right then.  It was difficult to find a time that would work, so our first date ended up being on Valentine's day.  We went to the Salt Lake temple for my cousin's sealing and then to breakfast afterward.  I had a lunch date and a dinner date that day, so it had to be breakfast.  

I was still writing a few missionaries and going on dates with a lot of different people.  After a few weeks it got narrowed down to 2.  I would go out with David one night of the weekend and a guy named Ryan the other night of the weekend.  It went like that until at least my birthday.  I got flowers from both of them that day.  Eventually, Ryan wanted to date me exclusively, but I wasn't ready for that, so he moved on.  That left me dating David and writing a couple missionaries.  A few months later our relationship had not progressed so we broke up.  His dad was also dying of cancer so he went back home to Louisiana to spend some time with his dad.  

While he was gone I started dating again.  I hit it off with a guy named Casey and we started going out a lot.  I also flew out to Minnesota to see Kody, who had just returned from his mission.  Then David's dad passed away and he came back to Utah.  I'm not sure why exactly, but as soon as he got back from Louisiana, he decided that he wanted to marry me, bought a ring and proposed.  I wanted to say no, I still had a date planned with Casey for that week, but I said yes.   I don't know what I was thinking.  His dad had just died, and he had broken his nose and had a black eye when he proposed.  I just couldn't say no.  It was a huge mistake.  I wasn't ready to marry him, I just didn't want to hurt him.  Unfortunately, not being honest with him then hurt him way more in the end.  I cancelled my date with Casey and wrote to Brant to tell him I was engaged.  It was all just so messed up.