It’s my favorite month of the year

It also marks the beginning and end of my year-long adventure at Iowa Western, learning all there is to know about the paramedic career.

My month of favorites is compounded by the fact that my birthday happens to land on my grandmother’s birthday. I was born Aug. 22 and given the name Bailey Mae, a name my parents finally agreed upon and one that celebrated being born on the same day as my Grandma Mae’s birthday.

I remember so well the moments my family and I would visit Auburn, where my grandparents lived, during the holidays and summers. The sun would beat down on us cousins as we explored the old corn crib and rundown barn, climbing crumbling walls and swinging on old worn ropes hanging from the barn apex. The hay dust always got in my eyes, but that never stopped me.

Even daydreaming about these moments makes me long for them back. But, time keeps ticking, moments are scarred in our minds and things change.

Instead, we need to push forward and hope for the good changes in our lives. Nearly a full year ago I peered through the glass walls of a full classroom of people my age and older all wishing for the same changes I was; and thus began my journey into the paramedicine field.

There are only three classes left for us in Council Bluffs, three Thursdays of learning things we never thought possible, not until we walked past the bubbling waterfall in the lobby area and reached out to the metal door handle.

It seems so weird, knowing in several weeks class will be over and we will be out on our own to tie up loose ends and find our way in the world with more opportunities available to us. This, in all aspects, is what makes August extra special to me.

The weekend after my birthday, Chris and I are celebrating my turning 28 and finally finishing with class for the year. It really is going to be a wonderful occasion. My sister and her boyfriend are joining us for dinner in Des Moines, and I plan to also celebrate her birthday then, as one of her gifts from me won’t make it to my house for a couple weeks.

It really will be the best weekend, with dinner at Joe’s Crab Shack, a tradition my sister and I started several years ago for my birthday, and a movie at the theatre at Jordan Creek. I can’t wait to see everyone and spend time with my sister, and hopefully even my parents for a bit to celebrate their anniversary.

All these changes, my sister and I getting older, my parents being married another year, these milestones in our lives keep happening, things keep changing, but in the end, it’s all for the best. It really is.