I think a lot about two years from now, when I finish this degree, and I'm ready to start my career in a medical laboratory. With my unique background, I will bring a new point of view to clinical laboratories. I had, years ago, started this same degree. It was 2001, and I was living in an underserved area for healthcare. I felt that it was a good move, not only for myself, but the area. The shock of September 11, 2001 affected us all in many different ways. For myself, I withdrew from school, moved back home with my boyfriend, and by 2003, found myself married with a son. Many people found this urge to draw loved ones near to them during this time. My career however wasn't at a standstill; I was doing lab work in the field, measuring stream health with macro invertebrates. My skills were developing quickly in well grant writing, and administration work. I led a project for a grassroots organization and somehow managed to become the first non-engineering firm to write a Total Maximum Daily Load Implementation Plan for the Clean Water Act. This led me farther and farther from lab work until I found myself as an Administrative Assistant at a world famous scientific institution. Working side by side with scientists working in labs, but I could only file their paperwork. Admittedly, I did more than that, but I wasn't in the lab, and I knew I wanted to be. It can be difficult after a long time to make changes, and to go back to where you left off, but I know that I must. I am drawn to this work because it matches my style of thought. I am very analytical, and prefer things have absolute values. There is always an interpretation to be had on the facts, but I always like to have the facts first. You can imagine the fun teenage me had in English poetry classes, with questions asking me what things symbolize, as I rack my brain for the 'correct' and answer and then the teacher tells me it is "... open to interpretation." No thank you. Please give me a nice math problem with an answer, or at least a range. Beyond my call to do the work, another thing has called me to be trained to do the work now, at this time. Another national crisis, the COVID-19 outbreak, and following health care worker shortages have called me to step and do the job. Clinical labs have been understaffed for the whole of the pandemic. New testing needs to be developed to we can move to the next stage of living with Covid-19. I have heard this call, and in my career I will use all my experience in life to improve clinical laboratory science.

How old were you when you began to worry about living a full life? I was 4 and visiting family in Ireland, when my grandmother first began to tell me about how she would wish to go. In her sleep, is how any good Catholic Irish woman would want to go. This got my young mind moving at a dizzying speed. How did she know she was ready? There is so much in life to do. When she passed a few years later, I started making what I now know are called bucket lists. Dogs I wanted to own, places I wanted to visit, languages I wanted to learn; it became clear I had a thirst for life experiences. As I came to know myself, through college and my first marriage, things became clear, or at least showed me that these experiences are great, speaking Spanish on a trip to Madrid, where I was robbed; but also were enhanced because of whom I was with; my sister supporting me for the end of our Spain trip, because I lost most of my money. I still travel, and I'm learning Gaelic currently. Maybe on my next visit to Ireland, I can speak to my family there in their native tongue. Because I've realized that everything on my bucket list means nothing, if I can not share it with my family and friends. These days, as I've ticked off locales that I've visited, the new items added to my list look a little different. I want to have a best friend again, like I did when I was 9. I want to live a long healthy life, so I can see and play with my grandchildren. Just like my grandmother played with me. I'll leave out the death talk though.