PALS / End of Semester

Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS) has been going well. I am sure, however, that I do NOT want to work a kid-code. REALLY SURE.

The semester is running 100% full stress mode right now. My research students are all finishing up, and my honors student is doing a great job. All of them remind me that there are really wonderful young adults out there. Smart, creative, hard working and likeable.

There is this weird phenomenon that starts this time of year and will end in two weeks. Right now I can't turn around without being "needed". Intro students needing help in preparation for finals. Upper-level students wanting feedback on last minute paper drafts, studying for the final, etc. And, as mentioned, the seniors who I have worked one-on-one with for a year or more. Some have been with me since they were first-years as they were in a first-year seminar with me. Combined, dozens of e-mails and office hours visits, HOURS pouring over inferential statistics, constant demands for my time. What's odd is the end-stage of this dance. The students very abruptly go away and don't need me. All of a sudden, my lab, office and classrooms sit empty. I can go to the bathroom and not have someone ask me a question at the urinal. I can eat lunch. I'm free. But you know what? It hits me every year. This weird sense of emptiness. They were are part of my day-to-day life, and suddenly - poof. They're off. The close ones still call or write, but it isn't the same as the constant day-to-day contact. It's an odd dynamic.