For some, knowing what you want to do day in and day out, every day for the rest of your life comes naturally. It's encoded in your DNA. For others, its like marriage...you test out a few careers, decide which aren't a proper fit (usually in high school with a bunch of various retail, host/hostess, and waiter/waitress jobs) for the ideal, "rest of your life".
And after reading Kristen's blog on how her 12 year old self totally thinks this her is cool and Brittany's blog on helping her kids with homework I remember just what it was like deciding on my career or my "adult job" as I've come to call it.
I've had my fair share of odd retail jobs. From a party hostess at Chuck E Cheese (oh yes, I went there) to a shoe guru at Shoe Carnival, and finally a sales associate/cashier/anything-you-want-me-to-be at Walmart...I've seen a lot. On a side note, I took Kaylin to CEC last week and they had a birthday party going on. Can I just say the dance at our local (not sure about nationwide) CEC hasn't changed since I worked there in 2004? Really??? Time to update that. And another weird thought, I was devastated and emotionally gutted when we got back from Germany and the two Shoe Carnival's in town were closed. Anyways, these jobs all solidified one fact, I did NOT want to work retail for the rest of my life. Getting paid barely minimum wage, and 20 hours a week is pretty ballin in high school. But now, after a baby, and seeing what a decent paying job (anything over $10 an hour) with full time hours makes...retail is DEFINITELY not the way for me forever.
Moving on, I remember when I was a kid and my sisters and I would play school. I would always be the teacher, I'm the oldest its my born right. :) I remember finding worksheets online, making up math problems and spelling test to give to my sisters. Oh the joys I had getting those red pens and marking all over their papers. Not because they were all that wrong, but I had given them worksheets that were too hard for even me. So I guess in a way they were all wrong...but not for a good reason.
Then enter high school. The first 3 years were centered around school, volunteering, and (my juinor year) working. So my senior year, I was set to graduate with more than enough credits. I decided that even though I wasn't going to "slack off" in my core classes, it didn't mean that I had to stick with gym (I hate changing), art, or some other lame form of an elective. So I did what every high school senior does, and throws in useless credits and free periods. My useless credit, teacher's assistant. Now my teacher was pretty awesome. I can't tell you the number of times I skipped out and took and extra long lunch break at Chipotle. But, upon the endless grading of tests and quizzes, entering grades into the computer, and making new transparencies I decided that my goal of nursing was definitely a better fit.
See around the same time we were playing school, I began to watch ER and fell in love with the show. I've always been interested in the medical field. But watching ER made sense to me. The fast paced, move quickly, just work to save someone...it all fit like a glove. Quickly I found an old step pump, a few pairs of rubber gloves my aunt let us play with, and baby dolls. The basement of my grandparents house transformed from a 1 room school house, to a "full blown ER". Complete with 3 doctors (my sisters and I), "patients" and "charts", which were bunches of computer paper and wasted ink so my sisters and I could "diagnose" what was wrong. The basement even led outside, which allowed us to have a makeshift ambulance bay. We were high tech. I even found one of my grandma's old thin robes and wore it as my doctor's coat. Oh yes, I was one bad ass doctor. My sister's weren't always keen to play along, and when they did play it didn't last long usually. I remember my grandparents always saying that we had set up an ER in their basement again.
Anyways, from a young age I was amazed by the human body. The different types of connective tissue, the brain, the way stuff works. I received The Giant Book of the Human Body one year so for a little while I was convinced that my body was powered by little men (you'd have to read the book), from chewing to moving my fingers. Silly book, teaching kids like that.
I guess for me its sort of always been there, and now I can't wait to get back to it.
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