Five Little Words - Penultimate Finale

Little Ms Blogger set me up with Five Little Words some time last week, but I keep spouting from the mouth and making each word much longer than it has to be. Sorry, it's just what I do. If you want to see my take on the first three words you can look here and here. Without further ado, here are my last two words.

CAREER
I took a circuitous route to get to where I am today. When I first started college I was a French major. The thought of doing anything sciency never entered my mind. Then I  considered International Business, but I really wasn't excited about it, plus I had transferred schools and wasn't really doing all that great. If my major had been playing hooky I'd have aced it. I spent a few years going back and forth, then I got married and had a couple kids, then before I knew what was happening I was a single mom with 2 little girls. I finally got my act together with the help of a couple close friends (I've mentioned them before) and got a degree in biochem, although there isn't much you can do with a biochem degree except be a peon in a lab or go for a PhD. Throughout my long and illustrious undergraduate years I kept taking career aptitude tests and they kept coming back "pharmacist" or "speech pathologist". I always immediately dismissed pharmacy thinking I didn't want to spend my life in a grocery store. When I graduated with my biochem degree I finally decided "what the hell" and decided to go to pharmacy school. I packed up my girls and moved 1500 miles in order to be near Barb and go to school. Imagine my surprise when I got wait-listed. I was devastated. I thought maybe I was right all along and pharmacy wasn't for me. I thought I'd give the whole speech pathology thing a look and shadowed someone for a day. One day. I hated it. I remember going to Barbs and crying crying crying. She said there was nothing wrong with being a stay-at-home mom, but I wasn't married at the time. There wasn't much for an over-educated under-qualified single mom to do.
A few months later I got a phone call from the pharmacy school. I got in. I was so excited! It never occurred to me to be nervous or scared, I just did it. It wasn't easy tho. As I said, I was a single mother and in a school with a reputation of being difficult. I remember my Dad telling me that he hoped I'd stick with it. I entered as a 3rd year student, and it was a 6 year degree. So for 4 years school was pretty much my life. I did, however, find time to fall in love and get married to the man of my dreams, but I'm sure I've already told you about him.
Before I had even graduated I had a full time job at Schnucks. I loved it, and I think Schnucks is a great company to work for, but there was one problem: the hours. Most nights I wouldn't get home until 10pm, plus I had to work every-other weekend. Add to that the fact that I was newly married and had pre-teen age girls. I just needed to be home more.
There is a story about my breaking point, but I'm not going to put it here. Suffice it to say that I decided to venture out on "my own" as a free-lance pharmacist. I LOVE it. I work when I want to, I have contacts all over the area. Some weeks I work every day, sometimes I just work a day or 2 a week. I rarely work saturdays, but I will now and then to fill in for friends. I can honestly say that this is what I was meant to do. I love knowing that I'm actively helping people, and yes even saving lives. You don't think so? I'll tell you more if you want, but this is already longer than I wanted. My point is, I feel good about myself, my choices, my career.
And the best thing about it shows if you look at my profile. First I am a mother to teenage girls, then I am a wife, then I am a pharmacist.
There are some people that wish they had it all. I have it.

Tune in next time for my Ultimate fifth word :)