Thank You, Readers!

Things have been a little quiet on Simple Seasonal over the last couple of years. I promise it’s not because I lost my love for cooking fresh seasonal food, or because I didn’t feel like blogging. I was busy drudging my way through nurse practitioner school. I’m happy to say that I graduated in May and I just passed my boards! I’m officially an Adult Geriatric Acute Care Nurse Practitioner!

I could not have accomplished this goal without every reader who has visited Simple Seasonal. When my children were small I built this blog during their nap times. At the time I worked as a nurse on the weekends and spent my weekdays at home with my kids. Although my husband and I didn’t love working opposite schedules, this allowed us to avoid full-time daycare. It also made it so that I was decidedly alone during nap time a few days a week and I had some untapped free time. From this extra time, this blog then became a creative outlet that grounded me as a caregiver to children and patients. My husband, who works in the tech industry, then helped me monetize Simple Seasonal, which has ultimately funded 100% of my nurse practitioner education through advertising revenue. This would not have been possible without every scroll, click, and recipe cooked by every person who has visited my little corner of the internet. Thank you!

I have been a practicing RN since 2009 and it has been a beautiful journey where I have had the privilege to meet and care for people from countless backgrounds. I have been there when someone took their first breath, as well as their last. I’ve celebrated with patients when they got the best possible news, and held their hand through the worst of it.

There was also a pandemic.

Sometimes the nursing profession breaks you. But, in the end, all of those raw experiences can rebuild you into a better version of yourself, and you can rest with the knowledge that each day you show up it deeply matters in a way that transcends the pain of the moment.

For a long time I have known I wanted to take my nurse’s training a step further. Back in 2009 I promised myself that I would become a nurse practitioner by my 40th birthday. Well, I’ve done it just under the buzzer, with a mere 3 months to spare! I can’t begin to describe how wonderful it feels to accomplish such a huge goal.

This journey wasn’t easy, straightforward, or handed to me. I’m the first woman to graduate from college in my family. Growing up I experienced how powerless a woman can be over her own life, and over creating the best life they imagine for themselves and their children. Throughout my childhood I heard a narrative like “you can’t do this or that, or you shouldn’t want more for your life.” As I came of age, the “right” path forward for my life was well defined and quite unimaginative. The problem was I always saw myself differently and I have always imagined more for myself and my family.

Through some empowering experiences and people in my life, I came to believe that all of our lives are a story we get to write if we’re brave enough to take the author’s pen. That doesn’t mean bad things won’t happen and that there won’t be a plot twist, but we can choose to be the first-person protagonist instead of someone who is written by an uninvested narrator. I encourage you, dear reader, to also imagine the best for yourself and then live it.