Be forewarned..... I am about to ramble.
I am mom and a wife. I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Biology in 2003. I went on to do a year and a half of post-baccalaureate work and prepared to take the MCAT. I grew up knowing that I was going to go to medical school and work in healthcare. However, after marriage in 2006, life happened. My husband was laid off a month after our honeymoon. I became the soul bread-winner for our new family. I have been a phlebotomist for the Blood Bank since 2005. After several attempts to buy a house and become stable, my husband was once again laid off about 4 months into my first (and only, so far) pregnancy. Two more lay offs and he finally started a permanent job on December 1 2010 that he absolutely loves. (Seriously, I have to call to see if he is going to work all night or come home. It would be nice to have a job that I love that much.) Well, anyway, moving on.
As I approached my 30th birthday, I began to have a mid-life crisis. I realized that in the middle of life, I had lost myself. Although I am great at science and I love it, I am not by any means passionate about it. I was truly unhappy and depressed. I spent all day in my head at work and came home to a toddler, so I spent all afternoon in my head, with no chance at an intellectual conversation. My head is not a good place to be. I also decided that I needed a creative outlet. Having a toddler, my options were sort of limited. Scrapbooking is not so easy with a 2 year old. I am also a published poet and songwriter, but I had long since lost my inspiration. I love to cook, so I turned to my kitchen.
My daughter decided, all of sudden, that she wanted to help me bake, in February (she missed the whole concept in December when I was trying to do all of my Christmas baking). So, baking was something that I could do to feed the other, creative, half of my brain and somewhat keep my rug rat occupied at the same time.
As I became more and more frustrated with work, I began baking more and more. I love feeding other people. I also began to resent my job even more. I don't understand people. I work with volunteer blood donors, yet half of them act as though they are forced to be there. The other half have taken a selfless act of humanitarian giving and turned it into a completely selfish act in which they will only give if there is something material in it for them. They have completely forgotten the reason for their giving. As far as they are concerned, the donation process stops when they leave the building. They have no concept of patient need. I found that I was using all of my patience on adults at work and had none left for my little girl when I got home. It wasn't fair to her.
So, after much consideration and stress and worry, I went part-time 2 weeks ago to pursue a career in the culinary arts. I am officially terrified!
I will begin culinary school in January studying baking and pastry. I want to show my daughter that you are never too old to pursue your dream, and every dream is worth it, if it is your dream.
I also plan to help pay for school with cupcake and small cake orders. I am a little apprehensive. I have never done anything like this, but here I go.....
