What do I want to be when I grow up?

My daughter graduated from college on Friday.   US Davis, and she graduated with high honors!  Yes, I'm a proud mom, but that's not why I mentioning her.  She has a degree in Wildlife Biology and currently holds a position with the US Geological Survey where she kayaks the irrigation canals and sets and checks traps for giant garter snakes.  She gets bitten frequently (they are non-venomous to humans), got stung by a wasp in the face, almost tipped a truck into one of the canals, and so much more, but she LOVES her job, even when she puts in 12 hour days and comes home sun burnt and exhausted.  And she's making a difference.  It may not seem important to know how many giant garter snakes are around, but snakes play such an important part of our ecological world that should they disappear we would be really hurt.

That got me to thinking - what would I do if I could do anything I wanted to do?  I'm still not 100% sure, but I do know it would not involve sitting at a desk 8 hours a day Monday through Friday helping my customers get into your inbox for email.  Not that I hate my job.  I'm grateful to it for paying my bills, and I really like the people I work with, but it's not what I would chose to do day in and day out.  It doesn't make a difference.  I mean seriously, who but some corporation cares whether or not you receive an email about a 20% off sale?  You may if you are looking for something from that store, but that's really temporary.

I also work with Save A Kitten San Jose.  I run the Facebook page and I currently have 8 kittens (well, 7 kittens and 1 momma cat) that I'm fostering.  I'm making a difference in their lives.  They have a chance to live because I was willing to take them in.  One is the kitten of a feral mom and is pretty wild herself, but I'm teaching her to like humans more, and realize that people can be good.  She would have been euthanized and her mom spayed and released had I not stepped in.  Her mom was still spayed and released - but I got to release her.  I lifted the door on her feral box and told her she could be free (I released her where she was found) and she turned and looked at me for a moment.  I swore she was thanking me.  She can live her life the way she wants, but she will not have to deal with litters of kittens that will die (3 of her kittens were found dead by her side).

So that brings me back to my original question.  What do I want to be when I grow up?  I don't know quite yet - this blog will be a journey of me figuring that out - but I know I want to make a difference, and I know I want to work with animals (like mother like daughter).  So, those are two things I do know.

But rest assured this blog is not only about this journey.  It will be a mix of a lot of different kinds of musings.  I keep taking those stupid online tests about what I should do, and time after time they come up saying I should be a writer.  I told that to my daughter who simply responded, "So, then write, you know you love writing."  So, I'll write.  Not about one thing, but about life in general, keeping a positive attitude, and finding my passions.  You are welcome to come along for the ride.  I welcome comments, ideas, hopes, dreams, etc.  Anything negative without purpose will be deleted.  I don't have time for that kind of uselessness, after all, I am looking for happiness.  After all:

Hope you have a happy day!