Hi again! You're welcome on the comments and observations! I'm always full of those (many would say too full!).

I got a triple-major undergrad degree in English, journalism and pre-med when I finished college and segued directly into a master's program that gave me a combo M.A. in English and education. So when I came out, I had the undergrad and master's degree and a teaching certificate. I taught high school English for two years before I got the brilliant idea I needed to go to law school. I should never have done that because I never cared a whit about law, but it was competitive and I got in, and so I did it. I've never once used that degree professionally. The real burning desire I had was always to go to med school like my husband, who I married between the teaching and law school years. I worked during those teaching and law school summers as a paramedic for my hometown fire department, and I always knew medicine was really what called me and interested me.

Anyway, with all that verbal training and an extra degree I didn't plan to use, I went to work as a reporter/writer for a big newspaper here in Dallas where I live. Did that a couple of years. Then a desire for more money drove me to a job with a big high tech corporation as a writer, and I've done marketing communications writing and speechwriting for them for 17 years, only stopping two weeks ago today. People who can write can do so much in the business world. Speechwriting and marketing copy were fun because they had the human, salesy touch. But there's also tech writing, business writing, editing. You name it. English definitely doesn't necessarily mean we have to teach. Corporations are always needing Web writers, editors, and the like. Newspapers need reporters. Non-profits need PR people who can write. Educational institutions need people who can write curriculum. The list is endless. My mom and dad are both college English professors (now retired), and while academia is great, it is very hard to get into that because there are so few jobs available. And they pay miserably compared to the business world.

So there was my life story, which I should never have bored you with, but that at least covered my job history with words. I finally got my nerve up a year and a half ago to get the ball rolling on my medical ambitions again. Our son is grown and in college now, and so I took the MCAT prep review courses, applied and was accepted. I have my first day of medical school on Monday, and today was my first-year-student orientation. I'm scared to death, but I figure I can probably do it since they accepted me. So, at almost 45, I'm basically just now finally embarking on my lifelong dream. I don't mean to imply that I haven't loved my career in writing or that I haven't fulfilled a dream by simply being married and having a family. I have. But now that that dream is well underway, I'm ready for another adventure!!

Too much information, I know. Sorry about that!