“What do you want to be when you grow up?” I ask my five year old daughter this question frequently. She is full of ideas, she has new careers in mind all the time. A paleontologist, an archaeologist, a veterinarian, a fire fighter, an ear piercer at the mall, a vegetarian, and most recently, a detective. She is so spunky and full of new ideas! I ask her this question to help her find her passions, but also to give myself some new ideas. 

I still do not know what I want to be when I grow up. As a child, all I wanted to do was draw pictures and ride ponies. Teachers at school urged me to become a teacher myself, especially various English teachers I encountered over the years. Me? Teach other people? Yeah, right…could I do that? “No, not me…” I would say to myself. So what am I? Currently, a student. I am studying Criminal Investigations; my most recent plan was to pursue a degree in law enforcement, become a deputy, and then obtain higher education and eventually become a forensic toxicologist. 

Forensic toxicology is a fascinating subject, which is why I have dreamed of working in a laboratory setting for several years now. For some reason, we have the strange idea that we simply cannot do something, we fear that we do not have what it takes to accomplish our dreams. I graduated from high school when I was 16, ready to take on the world. Suddenly, I had doubts about who I was and what I wanted to be, so I did something completely illogical. I dropped out of college at 17, got married, and had my daughter. After all, family is what dreams are made of! I worked odd jobs as my young marriage crumbled: I was a waitress, a receptionist, a dog handler, heck, I even worked for UPS! My marriage, my first dream, ended bitterly. I knew then and there that there is more to life than the supposed love I had found at my young age, but that is a story for a different day. I continued to work at these odd jobs, unhappy with how my life was turning out. The only light in my life was my beautiful little girl. I knew I needed to do something different in order to support her. Finally, I realized that I needed a career. So, I enrolled in an online school studying Criminal Investigations. As I worked towards my degree, I obtained employment with the Post Office. I delivered mail for a year before I sought change. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great job–just not a great job for me. I continued working towards my degree, unemployed and searching for something more.