When I was a little girl, living at 1034 E. Orange St in Lancaster Pa, I would dream of having lots of kids and a great husband that would never leave me. Somewhere in those dreams were aspirations to be someone different. I am not sure what that meant but I think it had to do with helping people.
I think I always had this desire to help hurting people. When my friends were hurting, I made them laugh. Early sarcasm never escaped me.
While I spent many evenings alone in my room, I made up stories and dramas that I would record in front of my mom's old camera. I still have some of those embarrassing tapes where I am dancing to Bobbi Brown's CD and singing karaoke while explaining how my heart was breaking over a boy! And my kids have watched it--thanks to my mother!
I tinkered with sports, liked "religion class", thought science was interesting, and liked to talk...a lot!
Despite all of those minor memories, I don't think I ever knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. I still am not sure.
After high school, I thought I would try nursing school. In high school, I did o.k. I didn't like to read. I liked to talk, remember? When I met with the DON at St. Joseph School of Nursing, I will never forget what she said to me. "If you would of read more in high school, you would of been smarter." How depressing! {Insert loser here}
Well, she let me come to her fancy school anyway but I had to work extra the first year to prove myself. I had to take extra college classes and she would "re-evaluate" me at the end of that year.
During that first year, I wanted to quit--a lot. I liked a new guy and had a friend that thought it would be easier to quit nursing school and go to ultrasound tech school. I thought that sounded smart. Get done sooner?
However, my guy thought I could do MORE! He thought I had more to give and told me not to give up. I decided to listen to him (oh love!) and pursue nursing. I did well, but certainly had some ups and downs. I finished, despite my final year of school being one of the toughest years! After my ER rotation, one of my instructors told me that I might not "make it." She said I had one last chance to finish.
I am sensing a pattern in my life with those who think I "might not make it." Well I blew her away when I passed and graduated nursing school!
I had this incredible passion for mental health nursing. I loved helping people, listening, counseling, and watching people come change their lives. However, I soon found out (naive as I was at age 20), that many people never escaped their issues. The door revolved. It was depressing. While I was working mental health, I also worked 2nd shift orthopedics. I think early on that I liked many different jobs. I was never easily satisfied with one area of focus :-)
Eventually, I left the rigidity of the hospital and worked for RGAL, an outpatient endoscopy unit. I had incredible flexibility here. That was key to me being able to run a consignment shop for kids for 7 years! Not sure where that came in but had this passion and went for it. I was a small business owner and a nurse. Oh yeah, and then there were kids. And homeschooling...
So here I am, 14 years later, doing something completely different than nursing. We closed the consignment shop after 7 yrs of breaking even. I was actively involved in my career as an endoscopy nurse when one day someone said to me, "Hey you ever think about working for the church?"
Mmmm...more on that tomorrow. For now I want to know what you "thought" you might have been when you grew up. Or what you "think" you might want to be when you grow up. I am not sure I grew up yet...
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