I’ve started to line up housing and begun to ship my belongings across the country. While I’m very excited about living my dream, I am also sad to be leaving sunny and beautiful California. The bay area has been my home for the past eight years and the first step in my new journey is saying goodbye to my life here. It’s a hard fact of life that personal growth comes with a cost, and that cost is the loss of the familiar, comfortable world one has grown accustomed to. Sometimes the cost seems too steep, and I wonder if the risk will be worth it. But I firmly believe that staying put is staying safe and that with risk comes the potential for great rewards, so I’m taking the plunge into the unknown.
If any of you doubt how hard it is to leave, here’s a photo I took yesterday at the top of Lombard St as I was on my way from UCSF to Marin:
I know I’ve made the right decision because I feel like my world is opening up with possibilities rather than being narrowed down. Cornell does not track as heavily as the other schools that made me offers, meaning that I won’t be forced to specialize exclusively in small animal, large animal or wildlife medicine. I will be able to honor and help preserve the human-animal bond that is the world of domestic pets, while still maintaining an interest in wildlife and perhaps some mixed practice species such as goats. I could choose to follow my dream of specializing in internal medicine, or I could switch tracks and try to make a career in conservation, going back to my roots in ecology and wildlife rehabilitation.
It’s raining in Marin today and I’m anticipating many grey days ahead during the winters in Ithaca. But this morning when I drove down the hill into town I saw an elderly woman walking her dog, and the pride and care she showed in her canine companion made me smile because I will be one of the people entrusted to help such lovely families. I will do my best to heal and my best to help those left behind cope when healing is not possible. I can’t wait!
Yahoo, you're blogging again, I thought you had given it up. What an adorable picture of a dog!
ReplyDeleteYay, yay, yay, the blog is back! I am looking forward to hearing how your new adventure goes, the good and the bad . . . the goats.
ReplyDeletein the months ahead, when vet school starts to really crush your spirit (and it will...but that's part of the point...i think)...come back to this post and keep reading it over and over again. and every time you're shopping in the middle of the night for groceries, and you're exhausted from your fifth exam in 5 days, stop and realize..."hey, i'm a vet student! how cool is that?" because it really is. you're in a position that many, many people envy. it's a great job full of amazing people and unlimited opportunity.
ReplyDeletewelcome to the profession!!
oh and p.s. - all of my archives are not up yet. i took down a great deal of them for a while. i'm only just now getting around to reposting - so there are big gaps. it's a sloooooow process, because i've kept that blog from 2nd semester of first year till now. there's a lot backlogged!
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