In Review

This week I walk in graduation ceremony. I don’t officially graduate until December, but the didactic coursework is all done and I have 16 weeks of fieldwork left. This week I was reflecting as I finished up finals and last day of classes and such.

It’s been a wonderful, sometimes tough, journey. I’ve met a lot of new people. I’ve learned a ton of new information. I’ve experienced a myriad of emotions.

I’m a planner, but I also have moments of spontaneity, such as when I decided to graduate high school a year early and go to Penn State Mont Alto so I could commute, save money, and work while I went to school full time.

I can clearly remember my first year of school as a business major. I had gotten accepted into Penn State’s Smeal College of Business (which is kind of a big deal), but I was unsure about the whole business thing. I couldn’t see myself sitting at a desk all day, and when I pictured myself wearing suits well that just sounded horrific – both to my sense of style and just my whole image. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with suits on the right people. But I prefer flowing skirts, jeans, colorful, random clothing and suits just can’t handle that kind of creativity. I was good at accounting, but when I thought about doing that kind of stuff all day, I just couldn’t even think about it.

When people asked me what I wanted to be, I would reply “A wife and a mom.” That is truly all I’ve ever wanted to be. However, I did not go to school to get an “MRS” degree. I plugged away at my classes that first year, as I would come home and cry in frustration at not loving college.

When I worked at the restaurant my last year of high school, one of my coworkers was talking about what she was going to school for – occupational therapy. I had never heard of it before but as she told me, I was intrigued.

However, that year came and went and I entered college as a business major and didn’t think any more of it. Well during all my frustrations with business school and the lack of passion I felt for it, I went into my dad’s office and had a long talk with him about how I was feeling and that I wanted to quit school unless I found something else to major in. He suggested that I look into a two year program. To make a long story short, I refound OT and researched it some more and thought it looked like something I would love.

So I talked to Angie, the program director, about what I would need to do to get into the program in Fall 2013, because I thought the cutoff line for 2012 had already happened. She looked at my grades and degree audit and told me to apply right away and that if there was room, she would recommend that I get it. So I did and waited a few months to hear back, but then I got an email saying I had been accepted in the program for 2012!!

As I took OT classes, it started to fall into place why I was the way I was. Why I was unique, loved problem solving and people. Why I was fascinated by almost every craft – much to my mom’s dismay. It was the perfect degree for me – blending together all of those things that had once seemed like random ideas.

Now 2 years later, I prepare to head to Washington State to work in a state psychiatric hospital. I am very excited, although a little bit nervous about being so far away from everything that is familiar to me. I've just made it through 3 years of school, I'm pretty sure I can handle 8 weeks of fieldwork.

Yet, as I process and prepare everything this week one verse keeps bombarding me. 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear (intimidation) but of power, of love, and of a sound mind!” I’ve seen it on Facebook, in the sermon on Sunday. It’s been everywhere. And what a wonderful reminder it is as I branch out and take on the next part of this journey called life!!