From vet to Alef-Bet

I have a few friends who knit and blog and we've decided to embark on a blog project that has nothing to do with knitting. We're going to take turns coming up with a topic every Thursday and we each have to blog about it by the end of that day and post links to each others' blogs so that people can see our different perspectives on the same topic.

Check out the backstory about how the project was conceived and how we all came together.

Here are the other blogs:
Froggie Knits Like Crazy
Charmingly Random
Desperate Madness

This week’s question has been brought to us by Charmingly Random: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? As a grown up, did you choose the profession you wanted as a child? If you didn't, what drew you to the profession you have?

If you just met me on the street today or even just got to know me more recently, you would have no idea that I first wanted to be a veterinarian when I grew up. As a kid, I grew up with a lot of pets. That meant many trips to the vet for us. I always enjoyed accompanying our pets on these “adventures.” The vet was really nice and referred to them as “beasties.” I would then go home and play vet with my stuffed animals. I think I changed my career choice when I found out that vets have to euthanize animals sometimes. I couldn’t even imagine doing that, no matter how much the animal was suffering. I also think the jar with the dog heart that was infested with heartworm grossed me out and that also contributed to my loss of interest in the veterinary field. Not to mention that I didn’t want to be peed on by an animal I didn’t live with on a daily basis (that was gross enough in itself).

Eventually I decided I’d rather be an orthodontist because I was getting braces and I thought our orthodontist’s office was really cool. I also knew that orthodontists didn’t have to give root canals or pull teeth. However, I changed my mind about that when I couldn’t stomach the idea of having my hands inside peoples’ mouths all day long, whether or not I had protective gloves on. And I didn’t want to contribute to the torture that was an accumulation of impressions and the painful first days of braces.

I am now a grown-up (at least I tell that to my kids) and I work in the field of my religion, at a non-profit organization. This is the first job I can honestly say that I truly love (while I loved the people I worked with at my job in NJ, there’s something different about where I am now). I talk about it all the time and am proud to tell people where I work and what I do. I know I am almost starting over in my career by being an administrative assistant again, but I feel that there are a lot of places to go within this organization and I see myself staying here for a long time. There are people who have been here for over 20 years and I admire their dedication to the organization and to their job. I’d love to one day be able to tell newcomers that I’ve been here for 20 plus years and about all the things I’ve done here and the people I’ve met. I truly feel a sense of longevity here. When I was first looking for jobs after college, a job at a Jewish organization interested me, but I didn’t have the same passion I have now. When I was in NJ, I also tried to find jobs in the field of Judaism but had no luck. The first interview I had out there was for a Jewish organization on Wall Street, but the commute was too long to justify being there every day. I had a kid to worry about, as well. I also interviewed at some other Jewish organizations but they required work on Sundays and that wasn’t something to which I felt I could commit. I also envied a girl who was the Jewish liaison for the local hospital. It sounded like such an amazing and meaningful job. I ended up working for an Orthodox couple and helping them with an aspect of their medical billing business. While the business itself had nothing to do with Judaism, I liked that we were able to connect on that level and that I didn’t have to worry about taking time off for Shabbos or holidays. When I landed the interview (and then the job) at my current organization, I was ecstatic! (Of course, I felt even better once I had childcare lined up for after school hours.) I’ve been at this job for almost 5 months and feel like I’ve been here for years. It may not be curing pets or straightening teeth, but it’s meaningful to be here and that’s what’s important to me now.