That last line really cracked me up, Elena! I really appreciate your taking the time to read my work, and to comment on it. It means a lot to me.

I don’t know, I think we all find ourselves on a journey that is uniquely our own, and we find whatever tools along the way that we’ll need to navigate our way on that journey, and from there, we make some choices — some turn out to be good ones, others turn out to be “life lessons” — but each one further burnishes who we are, and makes the journey even more uniquely ours. I’ve also learned that it’s never too late to try something completely different.

I don’t even have a degree of any kind. 20 years ago I found myself 11 credits shy of a degree in nuclear physics, but that and a cup of coffee couldn’t have gotten me to where I wanted to go. I was working on a degree in business administration, which I was still about 35 credits shy of. One day I found out that even that wouldn’t help me for the position I thought I wanted to move into next. That was the only reason I had spent the better part of 2 years taking on college courses, on top of working full-time. When I discovered that even that wouldn’t help me, I threw in the towel on a degree — then I quickly moved up to the next level anyway, in another position that didn’t have the degree requirement.

Three years later, I was actively recruited for a position at the next level, no degree requirement. In that job, I had doctors who worked for me, and mentored a young lady who eventually became the Under Secretary for Food Safety, the top food safety position in the country.

All I’ve done is show up for work every day, and do the next thing in front of me. Also, I’ve developed a reputation as someone who will take on any challenge, even if it’s in an area I have no experience in. It’s always equal parts exciting, and scary as hell, always filled with new opportunities to fail.