How does a competitive ballerina become a rugby player? I'm still not quite sure even though it happened to me! All through my childhood I was a dancer. I wanted to play other sports but I wasn't allowed. I never really connected to other dancers, and there was always a catty edge to everything. When our town opened an ice rink I wanted to join the newly formed hockey team and got signed up for figure skating instead. In high school, several people tried to get a rugby team off the ground. I begged and pleaded, but was told "You can't play any sports where you will lose a tooth." By the time I was 18 years old and in college hours away from home, I finally had a chance to explore things I was never able to before. I had it in my head that I wasn't athletic enough for "real" sports. My best friends and roommates decided to try out for the Women's Oneonta Rugby Football Club. I tagged along, thinking that I would never make the team. We were all invited to join the team. I had never been part of a sports team before and found out how quickly a team becomes family. I became a part of this amazing group of girls, this family. We supported each other on the field and off the field. We had inside jokes, stories, songs, and so much fun together. My rugby family encouraged me to try new things and helped make my college experience so special. Beyond my team, I have found that rugby is a broader family. Any time I meet another rugby player there is an instant connection. Especially in the United States where rugby isn't super popular, it builds a bridge. When it is another woman who has played rugby, that connection is even deeper. Somehow I know that this is someone that I could get along with. So this ballerina became a rugby player. I found a family that I never found in dance. I made lifelong friendships on my team. I discovered a broader community that connects beyond the field. Even now, when I haven't played for years due to health reasons, I still feel that connection. I still feel like I am a rugby player and a part of the community. A rugby family is more than just sports and after-game parties. A rugby family is real.

Rudy is my first dog. Really, my family has two dogs and they are both wonderful pets, but Rudy is my dog. He is a street rescue who followed a friend home one day and eventually became my bud. Rudy has been in my life since 2014, almost 10 years. He's lived in 3 different states with me, braving a cross-country move along the way. He's been with me through breakups, marriage and having kids. He's my daughters' first dog too. In fact, my two-year-old calls every dog she sees "Rudy!" Rudy is also dying. He has congestive heart failure which is getting worse. I don't know how much longer we have with him. We watch for bad days, and eventually, we'll have to make a hard decision. For now, we do the best we can, make sure he gets his meds and lots of love, and enjoy our time together. It's not always easy. Rudy's favorite thing to do is to curl up next to one of his favorite humans for snuggles. When I think about that, and his love for us, it makes me tear up. He's such a good boy and such a special dog. I wouldn't trade my time with him for anything. Part of having pets is dealing with loss. The loss only hurts so much because of all the love we share. Being in school is a financial stressor, and having a dog on three heart medications doesn't help that. I'm committed to finishing my master's in social work though. It is important to me to obtain this degree and subsequently clinical licensure. I am passionate about working with the LGTBQI+ community. There is a severe shortage of qualified mental health providers who can provide appropriate, gender-affirming, and culturally relevant care in this community. My dream job is to become one of those providers. I'm thankful that I have had Rudy by my side through this journey. When I started this degree in 2019, I had no idea it would take so long. That I would have two kids and have survived a global pandemic along the way. However, that is the path that I have taken and Rudy has been there through each step. I don't know if he will be with me on this earth when I finish it, but I do know that he will be with me in my heart.

For many years, I was deeply unhappy in my career. I was sitting in an office doing mindless work and feeling unfulfilled. I had always wanted to be an EMT, so I applied to my local volunteer fire department. Little did I know that I was embarking on a life-changing journey. After about a year, I was an officer-in-charge on the ambulance responding to 9-1-1 calls at night, and working during the day. It was surreal some days to be sitting in an office mere hours after running a life-and-death call. It was also exhausting to be putting so many hours into the service of others and maintaining a full-time office job. I needed to find a career that was fulfilling and paid the bills. I ended up moving across the country and getting a job as a child welfare social worker. It was a field that allowed me to work in service to others, while also having the time and energy to start a family of my own. Despite already having a masters in a related field, it became evident that I needed a masters in social work to truly advance in the field. So I am back in school, and working hard to achieve my goals and help others. Ultimately, my goal is to start a private practice specializing in working with LGBTQI+ adolescents and adults. Not only are mental health providers in short supply, but those specifically able to meet the needs of the LGBTQI+ community are even harder to find. My plan is to have a sliding scale and utilize funds available to provide pro bono services to clients who would not otherwise be able to afford mental health services. Even though I am extremely busy as a full-time parent and full-time student currently, I still do my best to help others. I previously interned at the Transgender Center of the Rockies (TCR), and I like to stop by and help organize the gender-affirming clothing closet that offers free clothing to anyone who needs it. I keep my eyes on the neighborhood BuyNothing group for items that the TCR could use and drop them off when I can. In the evenings I crochet packers, which are one of the most requested yet least donated items at the TCR, and donate them. These actions may not be big, but they help. Helping others helps me feel fulfilled. Though I am no longer a volunteer EMT, my time serving my community in that role helped to shape the path I am now on. I know that serving my community is important to me, and I find ways personally and professionally to do so.

This is a hard essay to write because I invariably will get emotional as I am writing it. Cameron was an amazing human. She taught me so much about love and life, and shaped the person that I am today in ways that I can not even begin to describe. She died far too young of extraspinal ependymoma, which was diagnosed far too late due to health professionals writing off her symptoms because she was a "healthy, young woman." She was my best friend, my platonic life partner, and so much more. My eldest daughter is named after her. When Cameron was sick, she never, ever gave up hope that she would be well again someday. She never stopped planning for the future that she never got to have. I remember sitting in a coffee shop a few blocks from her apartment one of the last times I saw her. As we chatted she told me about what she wanted to do, as internally I struggled to keep it together knowing that it was extraordinarily unlikely to ever happen. Cameron always wanted to help others. Lifting up those around was just a part of who she was. She cared so incredibly deeply. So we sat, sipping coffee and she started to tell me about how she wanted to go back to school. She wanted to get a degree in a counseling field and help young adults with mental illnesses. She dreamed of having a place where young adults could come, and be safe to express themselves. Here I am, ten years later, trying to finish my master's degree in social work. I am passionate about helping LGBTQI+ adolescents and young adults, which as a queer woman, I know that Cameron would have been on board with. Honestly, until I saw this prompt, I did not even realize how closely what I am doing is to what she wanted to do. I miss her so much that it is like a constant ache in my soul. She shaped my life and my world in so many ways. I didn't even connect the dots to how she shaped this choice. When I looked at this prompt suddenly it clicked into place. I am doing what I do in large part because Cameron never got the chance to. Honestly, she would have been better at this than I am. I'll do my best to carry on her legacy, her name, and her passions.

Coffee has paved my way through my entire education. Not only was I drinking copious amounts of coffee to study and write papers, but I was also working as a barista as an undergraduate, graduate student, and beyond. Anyone that knows me knows my undying love for coffee. Though my barista days are behind me for now, a cup of coffee is my daily morning ritual. Coffee brings me peace and coffee brings me joy. In the fall nothing hits quite like a pumpkin spice latte from my neighborhood Starbucks. It feels so cliche to say it now, but it's true. Who doesn't love a pumpkin spice latte? I remember before they were so ubiquitous though. Picture a crisp fall day in upstate New York. Imagine a cafe attached to the university library. Can you hear the crunch of the leaves, and smell the sweet fall air? And then suddenly it's the last 15 minutes of the hour. Everyone getting out of or heading to class. That's when we would get slammed. A nonstop rush for about 20 minutes, where I was making every kind of coffee-related beverage imaginable. A pumpkin spice latte always got an extra bit of my attention. Finishing it just right with the perfect swirl of whipped cream and pumpkin spice topping was so satisfying. Knowing that someone was about to have a sip of that perfectly made drink as they got through their day brought me joy. Often I would make one for myself on the way out the door to my classes. Every fall, I can feel myself transported back there when I get my first pumpkin spice latte of the year. The smell and the taste are somehow nostalgic and fresh at the same time. A pumpkin spice latte brings me a coziness and comfort that I just can't quite explain. It is my sign that fall is well and truly here. That the school year has started again, and I am on my way to new and better things. It's hopeful, yet safe. A pumpkin spice latte is a classic that I can count on each year during a time that can be unsettling and stressful. It has that perfect bit of caffeine and sugar that I once needed as a sleep-deprived undergraduate and that I need now as a sleep-deprived full-time parent/full-time student. It's a perfect way to start a perfect fall.