My plan when I graduated from high school: graduate with a degree in civil engineering, meet my future husband, start a career, have three kids (2 boys and a girl), and build the cities of the future.
Five years later when I graduated from college with a degree in Photojournalism my plan was: get a job as a reporter, try to get a job as a foreign journalist, meet someone and think about marriage later when I've gotten the wanderlust out of my system.
About five years later when I turned 30, I thought I could probably safely die and feel as though I had led a rich life. I had been traveling across country to train in Washington D.C. for a demographic researcher position in Mexico City. I lived in Mexico City for a year and met an amazing group of people. I had traveled to Europe and Australia, and I had seen parts of the country that I never thought I would. And, despite some dire odds against me, I actually got accepted to medical school. Marriage and family was a distant memory... I had things to do.
I don't know that I had much of a plan going to medical school other than to actually graduate. I originally went in with the intention of doing emergency medicine, however when I did my fourth year elective I hated it. How could anyone possibly want to work with people who did not take care of themselves? Why did all the cool traumas go to surgery? Was it too late to change my mind?
I found out it wasn't which is how I ended up doing three years of surgery. Over that time, though, I found I missed the patient contact. I missed teaching my patients. After taking a year off, I went back to emergency medicine. I got married. I have three children of the furry kind; a boy and two girls. And, now, I have just taken the next step. We're actually going to be "settling down." Wow.
It definitely wasn't the destination, but the journey that has brought me to this point. I can stop and think about several points in my life where a decision I made definitely changed the course of my life. They're the "what ifs" that everyone has faced from time to time. I'll ponder them in another post.... might even base a story on them. But for now, I will relish in the fact that I'm just about to reach my next destination... I don't think it's the final one. Ask me again in five years...
