58022--Walk the path

I took my students to the hospital for our first clinical day today. Most of it was spent in a conference room going over the hospital orientation stuff. There's a lot of it. After orientation we had a math quiz, then I set them loose to explore the units they will be working on for the next 16 weeks.

I had them come back to the conference room one at a time so I could spend a few minutes with each of them individually and get to know them a bit. I've been doing this since my first semester of clinical teaching, and I find it invaluable. They seem like a good group--highly motivated and all wanting to do their best. It's a good start.

I took a photo of them taking the math quiz, but it's not a good photo, so I am substituting one from this date in 2006, the first year I did a "photo of the day for a year" over at my old lowflyingsquab journal.

I remember it. I was in a restaurant, eating by myself, which I did all the time. I looked over at the family sitting next to me. The woman looked up and smiled, and whatever anxiety I had at the moment disappeared. I am sure I would interpret it differently now, but back then I was listening on a different frequency.



I was eating lunch at a diner.
The angel Gabriel was sitting at the next table
having a late breakfast with her family.

She delivered a message from her boss.
"Walk the path", she said,
"do not be afraid".

She didn't finish her toast.